"They are the same but different" was something that a friend once said to me. I said that how could that be possible since both are the same they have to be the same in all characteristics. She explained to me that this is not necessarily true because they me the same in many aspects but, there will always be something that will be different. I then imagined the case of twin brothers. Twin brothers are almost the same physically but, can be very different psychologically. In The Selfish Gene there is a part where I could see this concept of same but different reflected. According to Dawkins: "All genes look alike, just as all recording tapes look alike. The important differences between genes emerge only in their effects" (pg.235). Really what is outside is not as important as what is inside. If genes of muscle growth and hair growth were really similar and the body confused one with the other the effect that the gene produces is what matters. It doesn't matter what is done in the gene level if the effect that the body needs is achieved. This also reminds me of the maxim that said "Never judge a book by its cover". A book is very much like a gene. If you just see it from the outside it may seem the same stacks of paper folded and pasted together but, what is important in the book is the content and the lessons and stories it can tell us. Two weeks ago I went to a tennis tournament. I went with one friend and he had a match against this guy that was very small and did not seem very dangerous. My friend entered the court thinking that he was going to win easily. In the warm up the small kid did not hit very well and what we all judged seemed to be in accordance to his abilities. He won the flip of the coin and chose to serve. My friend was extremely confident of his win when the little guy surprised everyone in the crowd when he served an ace that was really going fast. The little guy ended up winning the match and that taught me a valuable lesson that is to "never judge the book by its cover".
There was a part of the book where I was really impressed of how the animal managed to trick or manipulate the other animal to help him. Normally when a person wants to trick another one or manipulate him, he will not want to show his true intentions. I say that the cuckoo is the perfect trick master because he can trick and manipulate almost anyone. According to Dawkins: "Its nervous system is being controlled, as irresistibly as if it were a helpless drug addict, or as if the cuckoo were a scientist plugging electrodes into his brain" (pg.249). What the cuckoo does is that he opens his beak and if another parent sees it he will go like if he was hypnotized and give the food to the cuckoo instead of his kids. If you think of it, it is really hard to avoid because it is a bright red mouth that attracts lots of attention. In the quotation Dawkins used drugs to refer to the cuckoo but, I think it is not the best object he could have used. In drugs there is a choice when a person offers you drugs to say strongly and clearly no. That is your easy way out of drugs but, in this case the other bird can't simply say no to the magic spell that the cuckoo lays on him. If you are flying through the sky and suddenly see an object that attracts your attention you will look at it if you do not know it is a cuckoo. Suddenly when you realize it you are giving the food of your kids to this cuckoo. Escaping of the spell that the cuckoo creates is much harder than saying no to drugs or anything that will create a dependency.
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