Word: selfishness
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Wyatt Emmerich's April 11th review of Richard Dawkins's book, The Selfish Gene, is a masterpiece, even for The Crimson, of inaccuracy, purposeful misinterpretation, and downright untruth. Emmerich shows a profound ignorance of the book, evolutionary theory in general, and the aims and structures of the "sociobiological" camp...
Dawkins clearly does not think that genes are conscious beings. He does, however, think they are selfish, in the particular and welldefined sense in which he uses the word. Any student who has progressed beyond a superficial understanding of natural selection can understand what Dawkins is driving at. They might not agree, but they would not produce the distorted, fanciful account of the book that Emmerich has dreamed...
...case...Be warned that, if you wish, as I do, to build a society in which individuals cooperate generously and unselfishly towards a common good, you can expect little help from our biological nature. Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish...
...connect him with Shockley when there is no connection) DeVore and Trivers are that ludicrous, leave them alone. They'll go away like all ludicrous theories do. When people start telling The New York Times that they lynched someone or stole someone's food after reading The Selfish Gene, the matter will have to be considered further. But for now the rampant paranoia and vigilanteism at this university must cease. It is the other side of the fascist coin...
...write, without glee and thinking that I'm probably wasting my time, to complain about a review by J. Wyatt Emmerich that appeared in the April 11 Crimson. It is not opinion that I criticize, but misrepresentation of the book, Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene...