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NL888 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Have to be genes that benefit?
1) Does "redound to" mean "resort to"?
2) Does "have to be genes that benefit" mean "have to be genes that benefit the organisms that carry the genes"?
Context:
This chapter began with the observation that, because Darwinian
natural selection abhors waste, any ubiquitous feature of a species
- such as religion - must have conferred some advantage or it
wouldn't have survived. But I hinted that the advantage doesn't
have to redound to the survival or reproductive success of the
individual. As we saw, advantage to the genes of the cold virus suf-
ficiently explains the ubiquity of that miserable complaint among
our species.* And it doesn't even have to be genes that benefit. Any
replicator will do. Genes are only the most obvious examples of
replicators. Other candidates are computer viruses, and memes -
units of cultural inheritance and the topic of this section. If we are
to understand memes, we have first to look a little more carefully
at exactly how natural selection works.
2) Does "have to be genes that benefit" mean "have to be genes that benefit the organisms that carry the genes"?
Context:
This chapter began with the observation that, because Darwinian
natural selection abhors waste, any ubiquitous feature of a species
- such as religion - must have conferred some advantage or it
wouldn't have survived. But I hinted that the advantage doesn't
have to redound to the survival or reproductive success of the
individual. As we saw, advantage to the genes of the cold virus suf-
ficiently explains the ubiquity of that miserable complaint among
our species.* And it doesn't even have to be genes that benefit. Any
replicator will do. Genes are only the most obvious examples of
replicators. Other candidates are computer viruses, and memes -
units of cultural inheritance and the topic of this section. If we are
to understand memes, we have first to look a little more carefully
at exactly how natural selection works.
Top answer
NL888 1) Does "redound to" mean "resort to"? r=66 NL888 2) Does "have to be genes that benefit" mean "have to be genes that benefit the organisms that carry the genes"? No.
- NL888 1) Does "redound to" mean "resort to"?
- r=66 NL888 2) Does "have to be genes that benefit" mean "have to be genes that benefit the organisms that carry the genes"?
- No.
- The genes themselves receive the benefit.
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7 Answers
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NL8881) Does "redound to" mean "resort to"?See definition entry #1
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/redound?r=66
NL8882) Does "have to be genes that benefit" mean "have to be genes that benefit the organisms that carry the genes"
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1. No. 'Have an effect on'.
2. It can be other parts of the body, not necessarily the genes.
2. It can be other parts of the body, not necessarily the genes.
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Thank you both.
Does "advantage to the genes of the cold virus" mean "advantage for the genes of the cold virus" or "the genes' advantage (the genes are the genes of the cold virus)"?
Does "advantage to the genes of the cold virus" mean "advantage for the genes of the cold virus" or "the genes' advantage (the genes are the genes of the cold virus)"?
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Rickard Dawkins modified Darwin's theory of evolution. He contends that is that natural selection and evolution is not for the survival of the species, but survival of the replicating mechanisms, that is, the genes.
The host (virus, human, bacterium) just is the carrier of the genes.
But, what is to the advantage of the gene, is also to the advantage of the host.
The host (virus, human, bacterium) just is the carrier of the genes.
But, what is to the advantage of the gene, is also to the advantage of the host.
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Excellent!
But I failed to catch the nuance of the word "to" in "advantage to the genes of the cold virus." Does it mean "for"?
But I failed to catch the nuance of the word "to" in "advantage to the genes of the cold virus." Does it mean "for"?
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NL888Excellent!But I failed to catch the nuance of the word "to" in "advantage to the genes of the cold virus." Does it mean "for"?Yes
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NL888the advantage doesn'thave to redound to the survival or reproductive success of theindividual.I'd paraphrase it thus:
the advantage doesn't have to have any particular effect on the survival or reproductive success of the individual.
NL888 it doesn't even have to be genes that benefit.~ Something other
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