Thread:Comments:Gay couple elected prom king and queen in Maine's Sanford High School/Silly/reply (71)

The term selfish gene does not refer to genes for selfish individuals. It means that the genes themselves evolve in a way that promotes the "selfish" best interests of the genes. This is in opposition to the (erroneous) idea that evolution favors individual organisms that are most fit to survive, or that it favors communities that are most fit to survive. The genes are the "replicators", the things whose relative success drives evolution; organisms, and communities of organisms, are just vehicles for the genes. Our genes have "learned" that they can promote their own propagation by inducing the creation of these amazing tools &mdash; us. All the genes "care" about is that they, the genes, are propagated; sometimes that is is promoted by creating vehicles that survive well, sometimes by creating vehicles that are very fragile but very prolific, and sometimes it's in the best interests of the genes that individual organisms sacrifice themselves for others. What all these have in common is that they benefit the genes, regardless of the welfare of individual organisms. Hence the metaphorical use of the word "selfish".