Chapter 2 foreword

Readers may wish to read this book as a science fiction novel.The author's conception and writing are intended to be thought-provoking and arouse reverie.However, this book is by no means a fiction.It's not fantasy, it's science. "Facts are stranger than imagination", regardless of whether this sentence is clichéd or not, it accurately expresses the author's impression of objective facts.We are all survival machines—robots as vehicles blindly programmed to perpetuate inherently selfish molecules called genes.This fact still astonishes me to this day. I've known this for years, but it still strikes me as a bit unbelievable.It is one of my hopes that I too will be able to amaze the reader with this.

There seem to be three imaginary readers who have been watching me from time to time during the writing process, and to them I dedicate this book.The first is the general reader we call the layman.For his sake, I avoid jargon almost entirely.If it is necessary to use specialized words, I will explain them in detail.I don't understand why we don't also delete most of the terms in some academic publications?Although I assume that laymen do not have professional knowledge, I do not think they are ignorant.As long as it can be done in a simple way, science can be made easy to understand.I have gone all out to try to democratize complex and difficult ideas in plain language without losing their essence.How well I have tried this is unknown; but another ambition of mine is to make the book a compelling and gripping read, worthy of its subject matter.But I'm not sure how successful I will be in this area.I have always thought that biology is as fascinating as a mysterious story, because in fact, the content of biology is a mysterious story.The subject matter of this book is supposed to bring great interest and inspiration to readers, but what I can do is at best a drop in the ocean, and I dare not hope for more.

The second imaginary reader is an expert.He was a demanding critic, and he took exception to some of the comparisons and figures of speech I used.He always liked to use phrases like: "Besides...", "But on the other hand...", "Tut! Tut!" I listened carefully to him, purely to satisfy him, I even rewrote an entire chapter of the book.But in the final analysis, the way of telling is still my own after all.I am afraid that this expert will not have no complaints about my writing style at all!But I still hope very fervently that even he will discover something new in this book, perhaps a new insight into a familiar point of view, and even be inspired to develop a new point of view of his own.If my ambitions are too great, may I hope that this book will at least amuse him during his travels?The third reader I have in mind is a student in transition from layman to expert.If he has not made up his mind to become an expert in any aspect, then I would advise him to consider the profession I am engaged in-zoology.Zoology certainly has its "practical value", and most animals have their cuteness.But beyond that, the study of zoology has far-reaching implications: because we animals are the most complex and perfectly designed machines of all the creatures in the universe.That being the case, it is puzzling to abandon zoology for other subjects!For those students who have devoted themselves to the study of zoology, I hope this book can have a certain educational value, because the original works and professional books they have diligently studied in the process of learning are the basis for writing this book.If they find the original work difficult to understand, my explanations in simple terms may be helpful to them as an introductory or supplementary reading.

Obviously, to cater to the tastes of the three types of readers at the same time is bound to take a certain risk.I can only say that I have always been perfectly aware of this.However, considering the benefits of my attempt, I am willing to take this risk. I'm a behavioral ecologist, so animal behavior is the subject of this book.I have been trained in the tradition of behavioral ecology, and the lessons I have learned speak for themselves.In particular, I worked under Niko Tinbergen for twelve years at Oxford.In those years he had a profound influence on me, I am afraid that even he himself could not have imagined. Although the term "survival machine" did not actually come from his mouth, it is not an exaggeration to say that it was his first.In recent years, behavioral ecology has flourished under the impact of new thoughts.From a traditional point of view, the source of this trend of thought does not belong to the category of behavioral ecology.This book draws heavily on these emerging ideas.The advocates of these new ideas are mainly Williams, Smith, Hamilton and Trivers (RLTrivers), and I will mention them in the relevant chapters respectively.

There have been many suggestions for the title of this book from various quarters, and I have moved their suggested titles to the respective chapter titles: "The Immortal Spiral", John Krebs; "The Genetic Machine" , Desmond Morris; Genetic Morality, Tim Clutton-Brock and Jean Dawkins, for which thanks go to Porter ( Stephen Potter apologized. Although imaginary readers can be used as objects of pious hope, they are of little practical significance compared with readers and critics in real life.The author has a habit, and the article will not stop until it has been revised several times.For this, Marian Dawkins had to do hard labor.For me, her profound knowledge of the biological literature, her deep understanding of theoretical issues, and the constant encouragement and moral support she afforded me were indispensable.Krebs also read an early draft of the book.He knows more about the subject of this book than I do.And he offered many opinions and suggestions without hesitation.Glenys Thomson and Walter Bodmer have been both honest and critical of my approach to the topic of genetics.And I am afraid that the modifications I have made will not fully satisfy them.But I always hope that they will find that the revised manuscript has improved.They went out of their way to spend a lot of time on my behalf, for which I am especially grateful.John Dawkins has an unerring eye for pointing out some misleading terms and offering valuable revisions.I could not have found a more suitable and learned "outsider" than Maxwell Stamp.His astute spotting of a general stylistic flaw in the first draft helped me immensely in the final draft.Finally, I would like to thank Michael Rodgers of Oxford University Press.He reviewed my manuscript and provided helpful comments; moreover, he did a lot of extra work in arranging the publication of this book.

Richard Dawkins