Self and the Beginning of Life 65“9x6” b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanityfunctionally distinct conformations, one of which, called the prion form,
can convert other proteins of the same type to the prion state by forcing
it to fold in a certain manner. By direct transmission of the prion protein
to the daughter cells through the cytoplasm, the inheritance bypasses
DNA mediation.^88
One additional limitation of the “gene’s-eye view” of Dawkins is the
difficulty of explaining group selection. That is, why will animals, people
included, of the same group help each other even if they are not close
relations? For this reason, Dawkins vehemently rejected altruism in a
group situation except among immediate relatives (kin selection) and
in the case of reciprocal altruism, in which mutual benefit is apparent.
By contrast, my “self’s-eye view” of life is consistent with the concept of
multilevel selection, as I consider groups at any level to be an expanded
self, all capable of competing other groups of the same nature and the
same rank for perpetuation (to be elaborated in Chapter 12).
In short, the unit of natural selection, which once shifted from
the organism to DNA or gene, is now switched back to the organism
(with some modifications). The prevailing view is that an organism is
a dynamic system that interconnects different parts, and DNA is just
one of these parts. Self as defined in this book fits nicely in this new
framework. At the bottom, it is self’s unwavering craving for survival
that makes natural selection and evolution possible. Self is therefore the
invisible axis around which life spiraled forward over billions of years of
evolution, and the process continues without end.
3.25 On Purpose and Design
Nature does not have a purpose. Instead, science discovered laws that
natural objects seem to “obey,” and in obeying these laws natural events
do show an endpoint (or a series of endpoints). A rock falling to the
ground will roll to the lowest point and stop according to the law of
gravity. Likewise, movements executed by organisms also have end-
points, but living things will overcome barriers or take alternative routes