What's a "selfish gene"?

Support Primer on Patreon! patreon.com/primerlearning
Here are the books I found helpful when writing for this video.
- The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins, amzn.to/2LpffQl
- Behave, Robert M. Sapolsky, amzn.to/2UTgyLX
(If you want to read them yourself, you can help support the channel by purchasing them through the links here.)
Special thanks to supporters on Patreon, especially:
Jordan Scales
Eric Helps
Ben Kamens
Ben Komalo
Christy Serbus
Sean Barker
Rikard Eide
For discussion and updates:
- Discord: / discord
- Reddit r/primerlearning
- Twitter @primerlearning
- Facebook: primerlearning
Made with Blender and python.
- Github: github.com/Helpsypoo/primer
License information:
Creative Commons 4.0 (CC-BY-NC). More info at creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Speaking of attribution:
- The music is "Scheming Weasel" by Kevin MacLeod, distributed under a CC-BY license via incompetech.com.
- Several other inputs into the graphics are from public domain contributions to blendswap.com.
Dawkins on his not being a diplomat: • Richard Dawkins on Twi...

[@dancingbubbles1126]

Yesterday you had 60 thousand subscribers, today you have 117 thousand. Your channel is growing like a population of herbivores in an endless field of vegetation.

[@asailijhijr]

Limited ultimately by lifetime movement speed.

[@raouljaribu5201]

192,000

[@raouljaribu5201]

Can everyone update the number of subscribers when they see this comment please

[@spartanwar1185]

He found a way to double his subscription chance

[@HardcoreGamer499]

197,000

[@TimesOfSilence]

I have no clue why the narrator is talking about jeans in this video. But I like it.

[@Daiems]

Wth are selfish jeans

[@grunklestanlee2774]

Amine Aboutalib I think that was meant to be a joke...

[@amineaboutalib]

@@grunklestanlee2774 i know?

[@aitusai]

@@grunklestanlee2774 woosh...?

[@albejaine]

@@aitusai lol ?

[@Z0Z99]

*"In the long term, competition is **_only_** between Jeans"*

[@pokvarenagljiva8745]

levis is the superior race

[@__-wc5zn]

@@pokvarenagljiva8745 We have to take back the Jean motherland taken from us by the Wrangler.

[@Mr_Kiwi_the_Wizard]

Jean stealers!

[@gtgunar]

"In the long term, competition is only between Beans"

[@Burn_Angel]

I like shorts. They're comfy and easy to wear.

[@novaywete5890]

This guy is going to get big, I’m calling it now

[@1kwithoutavid593]

Nova ywete called it

[@anarbatzoriganar]

well, the algorithm put him on my feed today. I think he's getting there

[@daos3300]

@Nova ywete what, and sacrifice speed? no way.

[@crimsonking4015]

Hes getting there... he was in my recomended

[@witherhoard5333]

Yeah def

[@emc2928]

I have the stupid Gene I had to watch this 3 times to understand this video

[@natevanderw]

That is not the stupid Gene! That is actually the smart gene. You don't learn something from simply watching a video. You either watch it 3+ times or watch it once while taking notes to learn new things.

[@EqualToBen]

@@natevanderw humble gene op

[@thegr8malachite370]

@@natevanderw that's supportive gene right there

[@shashwattripathi759]

goes for you too :D

[@ViratKohli-jj3wj]

@@meganathan98 chutiya hai kya

[@lennartmiau6504]

Ever since I started watching your videos, I always thought that they could (and should!) be used in classrooms everywhere. To the point, illustrative, without sidetracking, curiosity-sparking and ELI5-compatible. Then, 5:30. "What a bunch of d****, right?" - Welp, sorry teachers. You're on your own again.

[@Atle502]

Pffft, its worth the profanity!

[@SovietLlamaMC]

Exactly what I was thinking. This video would be awesome for highschool biology classes.

[@windowzombie]

Yeah, was wondering where that comment came from, doesn't fit the tone of the videos

[@PrimerBlobs]

This is valuable feedback, thank you. In the future when I want to be silly/irreverent in these videos, I’ll try to do it in a way that doesn’t make it harder for teachers to use them.

[@JP-gs3jw]

Good thing he doesn't depend on a college to explain, neither do we to learn, with profanity and all.

[@bobbytrap2554]

Gonna say it now you are going to blow up in the next few weeks, watched only one video but your subjects, animation and educational value is awesome! Definetely subscribed, love these kind of channels When I first wrote this comment 5 days ago you had 34k subs, now when I’m editing this you have 234k subs! Guess I was right :D

[@barisdafuq3518]

just wait till that algorithm boost slides in

[@LucasVinicius-db6sd]

@@barisdafuq3518 It already has!

[@yourunclejoe9500]

I'm thinking the same.

[@suntzu9693]

Just found his channel, already binging

[@LiiChinHo]

Run a simulation on KZbin's algorithm and its similarities and differences to natural selection.

[@francescoghizzo]

Richard Dawkins himself has stated multiple times in interviews that the title choice of his famous bestseller was not really clever because it led many people to judge the work by the title alone and infer that Dawkins was supporting a nihilistic view of evolution. Actually, a big portion of the book deals with game theory and the evolutionary basis for altruism. Perhaps a better title would have been "The gene centered view of evolution". By the way, this hypotesis seems to have been finally vindicated by the discovery of transposable elements and parasitic DNA

[@PrimerBlobs]

I have read the newest edition and remember that comment in the new foreword. For this video, though, I wanted to take advantage of the popular meme.

[@francescoghizzo]

By the way, congratulations for your work! The quality of the animation is over the top! I really liked the simulation approach, I hope to see sometimes in the future a video about Volterra-Lotka equations and prey-predator dynamics

[@lewleo999]

How about: "The selfish gene and the altruistic animal"?

[@Reach3DPrinters]

I don't think his book would have gained such notoriety without the "in your face" title.

[@ihsahnakerfeldt9280]

_The Selfish Gene_ is incredibly more catchy and attention provoking than _The Gene-Centered View of Evolution._ The former is a perfect title.

[@roberthudson3386]

Thanks to this video, instead of saying "that guy's a selfish bastard", I can now say "That bastard has carrier-focused genes".

[@PrimerBlobs]

Perfect

[@afailureofaanimator6744]

Modern problems demand modern solutions

[@koalaslovelemons8098]

2:09 - 2:27 I know this is an old meme, but I gotta. “Well, that escalated quickly...”

[@nox.4433]

And... And... And.... AND. AND. AND!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@amineaboutalib]

2:10 I was about to go full opposition before you explained how complicated genetics and epigenetics actually are

[@haidarrais3299]

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘦

[@PADARM]

nerrrd

[@NamelessKnightt]

@@PADARM no he got confused and could not say anything

[@user-xr1rf8sj8e]

Alleles?

[@user-xr1rf8sj8e]

@@PADARM What's wrong with being a nerd

[@keyyyla]

You hit something that is very rare until know: video animations that cover topics away from maths, physics etc. The combination of coding such videos and topics from biology is very good. Looking forward to see many more videos.

[@dinamiteurdinamiteur2324]

0:57 NO! Green blob. NO!!! NO! Dont try, you dont gonna fly, your arms are too tiny. Your are not a bird! Bad blob. Bad!

[@PastyMancer]

People say I can be what I want to be! *Flaps arms harder and faster*

[@spider_strand]

​@@PastyMancerI CAN BE MORE THAN BEING ITSELF! *ascends to goku or something, idk*

[@srinathjj5152]

3blue1brown of biology !!!

[@max_208]

Exept the pi's are replaced by blobs ...

[@pauarandia3400]

Srinath J J oh my god??? and it’s just as good

[@1.4142]

even sounds like him.

[@anunayy]

Secretly him.

[@zalsader]

YES!

[@sauceboss7165]

I learned more about genes in this 5 minute video than an entire year in science class

[@kimiachang8616]

4:15 these blobs had NO business being so cute

[@sneez6748]

YOU come into MY house and call my genes SELFISH!?

[@KINGKROSBYSKINGDOM]

Yeah the NERVE

[@dogsfromthecity]

I think your videos touch some very interesting topics. I like to take a look at dog genetics and how breeding has been affecting our dogs, not only on health, but mostly their behavior. And how dog breeds from different countries/continents have different traits even though they are same 'breed'. And basically the most important thing is to see the parenting genealogy and their main traits, etc. But their genes usually hit a certain amount of dead end because the breeding for looks get things complicated. Having a video about how the english bulldog genes are doomed, would be very interesting.

[@markonfilms]

Congrats on a million subs! I love every video. Even knowing so much of this is such a nice refresher and reinforcement!

[@AG-im1qi]

I can tell this channel is going to be a new favorite of mine. Great video!!

[@edgardmacena-ac4322]

Christmas came early this year! Nice video as always

[@firenado1674]

This channel gonna blow up for sure!

[@mandolinbee]

I'm so happy to have found your channel, please keep it up!

[@temperr.haring3508]

Great as always! Thank you for making these videos!

[@Higgsinophysics]

You killed it... Again!

[@ciccioforchetta885]

I wonder what it would be like to run a 10k years simulations with hundreds of species,preys and predators in an environment the size of madagascar lets say, and watch what happens

[@LageAfonso]

At the end, the predators which survived the whole period will argue that the earth is flat.

[@sanjivinsmoke9154]

On a more serious note the creatures will have to either grow sentience/brains able to act out of instinct or the predators will be predators and kill all herbivores then die inevitably.

[@daos3300]

@Ciccioforchetta 88 or you could just go to madagascar and see for yourself.

[@warrenlehmkuhleii8472]

Mega Blob!

[@tobinthomas7359]

what if that's what we are in, a simulation watched by aliens

[@Bradex.]

This is the most subbed to channel per video and views but it makes sense since you make exellent videos

[@robinmoussu]

This channel looks really promising. I'm looking forward for the next episodes!

[@iamasquidinspace]

Alright, I've just fallen in love with your content! Lovely animation!

[@egthatyoutubes8094]

1:41 Primer: What is a Gene? Me: Jeans are a type of pants.

[@cout970]

Great video, can't wait for the next one!

[@CayugaSwift]

I don't know how your vids popped up on my recommended vids - but I'm stoked that they did :D

[@moonlilly9884]

4:19 Trading with villagers in a nutshell

[@spinosaurusiii7027]

Not after 1.14

[@Magikarpexe]

You can get 1 emerald for 1 pumpkin of iron, effective in making your backyard farm a way to get op enchanted books. That being said, setting the villagers up does make your point.

[@munzeralseed]

Dopamine increased to maximum level !

[@Mrmcwarpather]

this nigga

[@ethannowlen2083]

i feel like all of this math and the thinking process in each video is so hopeful. i feel like Primer wants to see the world flourish. its been a while since ive seen intelligence used for something as positive as this. I hope this channel becomes widespread but doesnt lose that trait.

[@seanmonaghan4693]

keep this up man these videos are incredible.

[@FlameFireFlower]

Found this channel today. It's awesome

[@TheAwillz]

I wish you were about when I was studying game theory in Uni! It’s amazing how many benefits Evolutionary Biology can have for other fields!

[@juleshoward3941]

Love this!!! I wish I had this through high school. I wish you would keep doing this

[@carl-antonluninck6113]

I love your philosophy of uploading rarely, but when uploading, uploading the greatest Videos I have ever seen. Keep up the good work!

[@Phrenotopia]

As someone with a (dated) background in evolutionary biology, I knew of Dawkins' ideas, but never went into the details of it, or even read his book. Your succinct summary here really puts things into perspective! I'm looking forward to hearing more!

[@yonidellarocha9714]

This video does a very good job at explaining the main points of the book. I've read it a couple of times long ago and i remember it has a lot more topics but all are based around these ideas. Great book by a great biologist, however i don't share his ideas on religion, even though I'm an atheist as well.

[@razplay5767]

Dude... I love this guy, man, if you are reading this, I love the way you explain the most complicated concepts in a simple phrase that gives you the main idea Also, I think this kind of knowledge should be given to the a lot of people, so as someone who doesn't speak English as a native language, I think it would be a good idea to translate your content to other languages as Spanish or French, I am just saying hahah

[@dylancope]

This channel better blow up! Behave is on my reading list - I love Sapolsky's lectures!

[@erwinmoreno23]

These are great for learning many different related topics. Thanks!

[@williwanderer]

Just discovering this channel ; Excellent !! Stunning Videos ! Hope you'll keep going :-) Congrats from a french in Indonesia ...

[@Kram1032]

I love this deep dive into how all this stuff works! I tried simulating gene-level kin selection once (simply using the actual genetic overlap as a weight for the fitness function to accumulate the fitness of each individual as a weighted sum of the fitness of *all* the individua). The algorithm was unfortunately very slow and I bet I could have made it faster, but it worked quite nicely. Doing something like that for an open, continuous simulation where the creatures don't actually have access to the DNA would probably be more difficult. Perhaps you could, like, add a certain trait dependence into the Genome, wherein, say, a the relative distance between two creature's colors (although I'd go with more than three dimensions. That would be harder to actually visualize of course) can trigger behavior changes such as "stay close", "follow", "stay away", "feed", "eat", "fight", "mate", .... If actually visualizing the presence of specific markers isn't so important, one very easy way to go might be to have each of them have a random bit string as ID/part of their genome, and the overlap in bits is the proximal similarity. Would be interesting to see if anything special develops then, or that stuff gets completely ignored.

[@Asif19871]

Please persevere with your channel... you’re going to be big! This channel is informative & concise

[@giorgospap7615]

Great videos dude! You just got a new subscriber! Keep up the great work!!

[@nicorednose]

I’m only a 10 year old and I could under stand this, he is real good at explaining, I don’t under stand some words but I do under stand what he’s talking about

[@ERZATSHUMAN]

That's awesome Nico! I think it's great that you are trying to learn so much!

[@Cat-hc9pk]

*I’m more invested in these animated blobs lives than my own*

[@Johann757]

hahahaha

[@awkwardshuichikinnie8430]

Here before 1m subs, you’re so close!!! Also your videos teach me more than 2 semesters in school

[@amysaurhuish300]

Dude your videos are hecking awesome!

[@m.h.3679]

you need to upload more and this channel will blow up

[@mouduge]

Really fantastic channel, congrats! I am guessing your future videos will talk about kin selection and multi-level selection, I can't wait! If I may suggest a topic that blew my mind when I learned about it: *the evolution of sexual reproduction*. It is a great example of how selection does not always occur at the level of individuals, but sometimes (rarely) also at higher levels (group or species). If a mutation gives rise to a female able to reproduce asexually (aka parthenogenesis), then her reproductive advantage (x2, no need to create males) means that her offsprings will quickly outcompete all other members of the species. However, after a few thousand years, the species will eventually die out, lacking the necessary diversity to adapt to change (such as parasites). So although the mutation is beneficial in the short term and at the individual & group level, it turns out to be catastrophic in the long run, at the species level. Species that happen to have mechanisms that prevent parthenogenesis are more likely to survive. Mammals are pretty good at this apparently, since there is no known parthenogenetic mammal species. Again, wonderful job, looking forward to your next videos!

[@SearchingForSounds]

Learned so much from this video and others in the series. The owl music from Zelda is such a nice touch.. he always taught me lots as a kid!

[@skyemorningstar166]

these are nice and easy to digest. also the visuals are cute; the blob critters are adorable. :3 u got urself a sub!

[@wojtekpolska1013]

1:22 mutations on one-parent organism (and also on every other) can happen when one string of DNA is multiplying into other, but mistake happens, they are so often that for example human (and most other organisms) have system that "repairs" DNA when mutation happens, tho it dont always work.

[@Eratosthenes0fCyrene]

The best explanation for genetics.

[@gigonio]

I really like this series. I hope a new one comes out soon!!

[@AnnasHealingTouch]

These videos are amazing, thank you so much :)

[@starless5668]

1:56 I laughed so hard I had to pause the video. Great work, keep it up!

[@omacmacca1510]

He be looking a bit like John Lennon

[@ericemmons7429]

Love these. Can't wait for more blobs.

[@eritsia]

I have a tech class based on simulations like yours! You’ve helped me passed my classes, thank you!

[@Isosto]

Just discovered your videos, watched through them all. Commenting to aid the algorithm

[@recklessroges]

"Give peas a chance." roflcopter (perfect engagement easteregg.)

[@omacmacca1510]

Pardon?

[@papiharpy7547]

I'm an altruist and I've never related so much to this in my life.

[@MysteriousAsteria]

@Stardust did you even watch the video? Because it clearly says altruism can be extremely beneficial sometimes...

[@whatabouttheearth]

@Stardust You're an immature fool

[@qiqa2433]

You guys are the best thing in the world. It's almost 5AM rn and I'm learning about the selfish gene. Wowza's

[@_Olorin]

Hey, great series of videos! Definitely great material for teaching! I'm going to recommend your videos to my peers if they need to teach evolution, I think that it is a great step-by-step exploration of some of its principles and shows to the young biologists who hate math that it is actually useful to think in mathematical terms and they should not dismiss it (I swear, even simple math is sometimes hard for some of the undergraduate students I encounter) I'd like to ask you about something, though: You clearly insist in this video that the gene is the unit of selection. I understand why you do it for educational purposes here and I know that you know that there are other aspects to selection and that the "selfish" gene is only part of the story. I have focused on neuro-ethology these past years so I'm not studying selection so much anymore and I'm fuzzy on the details of the different sub-theories, but there is an argument for the individuals being the units of selection, isn't there? Genes never exist on their own, only in association with others, in viable "packages". As you say, there are interactions between genes so that the same gene might result in a different version of a trait (to keep it simple like in your video) when associated with a different set of other genes. PLUS, wether a gene has a positive impact on fitness depends on the environment it and its associated "package" is placed in (I know, I'm jumping ahead of this particular video...). We could say that wether a gene is replicated or not depends if the creature survives or not, so either the whole "package" survives in that specific combination, or none of those copies survive. Now since creatures actually don't replicate, but combine their genes in their offspring, this is not really true on the population level, but it means that the gene can't be the ONLY unit of selection. The "package"/creature is too to some extent. What I want to say, is that it seems to me like that notion of a single "unit" of selection is a pretty big oversimplification and that, in reality, the selection happens on multiple levels at once: the gene, the individual, the social network, etc... I was just wondering what your take on this is and I think a sort of overview video towards the end of your series to explain that it is not as simple and that there are multiple, sometimes conflicting, selective forces at play, might be a really good thing. Cheers!

[@ATERAH]

you need more subs

[@AmanRaiAgrawal]

4:20 the cheating strategy doesn't work because the number of cheaters will increase over generation and will be left with few individuals that help others.

[@thatgeek8064]

Oh my god I nearly spit out my drink when he said that at the end. I was so not expecting that

[@spindash64]

4:20 that’s probably the reason Betrayal elicits such a bile filled response. I’d predict that in social species, where the risk of a moocher leeching off of everyone else is incredibly high, there would generally be a trend towards treating cheaters with much greater hostility than what would technically fit the individual act of betrayal

[@valdemarjrgensen8072]

I learned nothing from this or the other couple of videos I've seen of yours... To be fair, I am a biologist who wrote my thesis in genetics. I'm mostly here because these videos are really well made and I'm contemplating if I can steal them for the class room if I get that teaching position I'm hoping for, as I doubt I can do a better job explaining this myself. Great work mate.

[@lacyanstradia5341]

Can anyone explain this? My mind is blown rn

[@DuskKaiser]

The 'iterated prisoner's dilemma' video from 'This place' is fantastic for understanding how mutually beneficial and even self hurting beneficial can thrive.

[@vilanovitube]

Great video again :) Congratulations!

[@twistedsim]

No Billy gene joke ? Meh :(

[@haakonlien7107]

JEANS are the unit of natural selection

[@ViratKohli-jj3wj]

*Trousers*

[@pixificial8177]

Amazingly beautiful content right here.

[@N0thingE1se]

excellent stuff, man!

[@ryanxin1848]

What did the biologist say to the other biologist who didn't wear pants? *get some genes* ba dum tss

[@PhilippeLarcher]

People actually believe "selfish gene" means "selfish individuals"?

[@lhawk120]

Superb channel, keep it up!

[@josiebianchi3481]

When you mentioned that reciprocal altruism should, in theory, be beaten out by strategies that take advantage of it and offer nothing in return, I couldn't help but be reminded of some repeated prisoner's dilemma algorithm competitions, wherein the most successful were those that employed reciprocal altruism until cheated.

[@matyaskassay4346]

exactly, in fact those were also mentioned in Dawkins' book.

[@DuskLegend]

These are such great videos. The simulations and slowly building each argument helps paint the concepts the American education system expects you to retain after being bombarded with. My only criticism would be to go a bit slower on the equations parts, and break down how each variable interacts with each other more.

[@stev99d]

the thumbnail is looking good, great job!

[@iKadheya]

YOUR VIDEOS ARE AWESOME

[@tylerlarson9491]

I love these types of videos!!! You should either produce more videos or use ur altruistic gene to shout-out other youtube channels doing similar simulation work! So they can get more credit and be more likely to reproduce more of this content!!

[@0Dighs]

This video is great, a very accurate and interactive simplifications of the book from dawkins, You guys should read it, its a masterpiece.

[@thetoad.1251]

This should be used in classrooms everywhere would I have understood this without this video NOPE these Re very informative enjoyable videos keep up the good work! ❤❤❤

[@Sjeedughait]

i like your clear view and explanation

[@noodlein10]

I just love when the blobs start waving they're so cuuuteee

[@georgetosounidis5545]

Just amazing! Fun and informative! :)

[@SexiTexi123]

Biology was my favorite class in high school and this is fun for me to watch

[@harshayoutubing]

Terrific content. I'm little broke to be a patreon supporter at the moment. Maybe in a few months. :) All the very best!

[@brigidtheirish]

Brother Gregor Mendel. He was a scientist and Augustinian friar. He taught physics, established the Austrian Meteorological Society, and eventually became abbot of the St. Thomas Monastery in addition to his famous pea plant experiment. Very cool guy.

[@justamanofculture12]

Phenomenal video ❤️

[@bryntee815]

As a biology uni student i find these videos so entertaining!! I also love the tiny blob creatures s o much 😭😭

[@WinterNox]

Cute blobs :)

[@CaptainCafe]

These are wonderful

[@martinmorsch7507]

Look, I know Mendel, I had that subject in School. Other than that I know nothing about this topic, but its killing me how interesting it is. Love you videos. What is your simulation made of? Is it an available program, or do you manually program them? Cause that seems kinda difficult to do....