According to Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, "It is genes, not individual living organisms, that have played the leading role in the long history of life. You and I are mere gene carriers responsible for passing them on from one generation to the next."
《自私的基因》作者道金斯說：「生命長河的主角是基因，而不是生命個體，你我只不過是基因的運輸工具，負責搭載他們穿越生命的世代。」