Our Nature

The title of this book is "The Selfish Gene". It will probablly seem dumb that it is until chapter 10 when I understood what Dawkins meant about a gene being selfish. He talks about the "selfish herd." Dawkins states that animals will normally stick together to protect themselves from predators, but that there will always be some that are more likely to be killed. He used the example of when animals line up together, there will always be some that are more vulnerable to being killed. "Unfortunately somebody has to be on the edge, but as far as each individual is concerned it is not going to be him!" This shows how every animal including humans does everything for their own benefit. He showed how animals stay together in order to find more food and fight together in order for it to be less probable that they will be killed. It is not because of support that they are in a herd, but it is for each individuals benefit. Is it the same way with humans? Are we that selfish that we don't even realized what we are doing? Do we just hang in groups so that we are more protected from society? Is it fear that keeps us from doing what we want, and we follow what others do to be protected? Just think about trends. Most people dress in similar ways and there are only few that really use their own style. From a large group they seem weird just because they are different but at the end of the day the weird ones are us who dress like clones.

As I am reading I am starting to dislike even more our "nature" because it seems as if all of us were selfish. It is something that I hadn't thought about before but this book is persuaying me to believe that unfortunately we are. When Dawkins says the frase "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" (Pg. 166) makes me question if we are really good people? Do we just do good deeds so we receive them back? Karma? Or is it really because of good will?

Since I was little my parents taught me values, that I had to be a good person. But am I just a good person because of what I was taught or is it my nature to be good? What would happen if I didn't have values?
Are we the ones that chose how we are or is it the society that surrounds us?

Are we selfish?