Self and the Beginning of Life 63“9x6” b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity“Darwinian evolution” only in a very limited sense, not general enough
to explain the emergence of life on Earth. In my opinion, applying the
idea of Darwinian evolution to the pre-biotic era is an over-extrapolation
of the principle, akin to putting the carriage before the horse.
Before life started, evolution had no substrate to act on. After cel-
lular life appeared, natural selection acted relentlessly on life’s yearning
for continued existence, an expression of self. Evolution did not start life,
but life, and self, “kicked off” evolution. Hence, to quote Darwin, “from
so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful
have been, and are being, evolved.”^83
3.24 Self as the Driving Force of Evolution
Ever since the proposal of Darwinian evolution, the substrate of natural
selection has been a moving target. First, it was the organism that was
selected. Next, it became clear that the gene, which is responsible for
variations in individual characteristics, was the unit of selection. By the
mid-twentieth century, DNA was established as the genetic material.
DNA contains information (through its coded sequence) that can pass
on to future generations through replication, while the same information
can specify the type of protein to be made. DNA thus became the cen-
ter of life. It was on this basis that the “selfish gene” theory of Richard
Dawkins was proposed in 1976.^84
Dawkins distinguished two complementary entities in a living thing:
the replicator and the vehicle. The replicator is the information-carrying
molecule whose function is to perpetuate the information ad infinitum
(barring occasional mutations); the vehicle is the rest of the organism
whose role is to make possible the continued replication of the repli-
cator. In other words, the replicator is the “boss”, whereas the vehicle
is the “servant.” Only one type of molecule in the body qualifies as a
replicator, and that is DNA; all others, including protein, are vehicles.
In Dawkins’ own words, “a vehicle is any unit, discrete enough to seem
worth naming, which houses a collection of replicators and which works