GodÕs Utility Function
Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life.
According to the author, life has no higher purpose
than to perpetuate the survival of DNA
by Richard Dawkins
In his many books on evolution and natural selection, Richard
Dawkins examines the topics not from the perspective of individual or-
ganisms (as Charles Darwin did ) but instead from what he has termed
Òthe geneÕs-eye view.Ó The genes in living creatures today are, he claims,
the ÒselÞshÓ ones that ensured their own survival by enabling their
hostsÑwhat Dawkins calls Òsurvival machinesÓÑto live long enough to
reproduce. Dawkins argues that the complexity of life can be explained
by the extraordinary contest among genes for survival, rather than by
any grand purpose in the universe.
In his recently published book, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View
of Life, Dawkins explains how the struggle of genes to replicate might
account for some of the central mysteries of life, including ÒHow did life
begin?Ó and ÒWhy are we here?Ó The article that follows is adapted
from a chapter of River Out of Eden ( BasicBooks, 1995).
I
cannot persuade myself,Ó Charles
Darwin wrote, Òthat a beneÞcent and
omnipotent God would have design-
edly created the Ichneumonidae with the
express intention of their feeding with-
in the living bodies of Caterpillars.Ó The
macabre habits of the Ichneumonidae
are shared by other groups of wasps,
such as the digger wasps studied by the
French naturalist Jean Henri Fabre.
Fabre reported that before laying her
egg in a caterpillar (or grasshopper
or bee), a female digger wasp carefully
guides her sting into each ganglion of
the preyÕs central nervous system so as
to paralyze the animal but not kill it.
DIGITAL COMPOSITION BY TOM DRAPER
This way, the meat stays fresh for the
growing larva. It is not known whether
the paralysis acts as a general anesthet-
ic or if it is like curare in just freezing
the victimÕs ability to move. If the latter,
the prey might be aware of being eaten
alive from inside but unable to move
a muscle to do anything about it. This
sounds savagely cruel, but, as we shall
see, Nature is not cruel, only pitilessly
Copyright 1995 Scientific American, Inc.
HANS REINHARD Bruce Coleman, Inc. (cheetah); VIDEO SURGERY Photo Researchers, Inc. (bone); KEN EWARD BioGrafx, Science Source, Photo Researchers, Inc. (DNA)
indiÝerent. This lesson is one of the ture question or the color question of, ÒSURVIVAL MACHINES,Ó as the author
hardest for humans to learn. We can- say, jealousy or prayer. Similarly, you describes living creatures, are engi-
not accept that things might be neither are right to ask ÒWhy?Ó of a bicycleÕs neered by natural selection to propa-
good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, mudguards or the Kariba Dam, but at gate DNA. The cheetah constitutes one
but simply callous: indiÝerent to all the very least you have no right to as- of the most dramatic examples.
suÝering, lacking all purpose. sume that the question deserves an an-
We humans have purpose on the swer when posed about a boulder, a
brain. We Þnd it diÛcult to look at any- misfortune, Mount Everest or the uni- divinely designed. Modern ÒscientiÞcÓ
thing without wondering what it is Òfor,Ó verse. Questions can be simply inappro- creationists also support this Òargu-
what the motive for it or the purpose priate, however heartfelt their framing. ment from design.Ó
behind it might be. The desire to see Somewhere between windscreen wip- The true process that has endowed
purpose everywhere is a natural one in ers and tin openers on the one hand, wings, eyes, beaks, nesting instincts and
an animal that lives surrounded by ma- and rocks and the universe on the oth- everything else about life with the strong
chines, works of art, tools and other de- er, lie living creatures. Living bodies and illusion of purposeful design is now well
signed artifactsÑan animal, moreover, their organs are objects that, unlike understood. It is Darwinian natural se-
whose waking thoughts are dominated rocks, seem to have purpose written all lection. Darwin realized that the organ-
by its own goals and aims. over them. Notoriously, of course, the isms alive today exist because their an-
Although a car, a tin opener, a screw- apparent purposefulness of living bod- cestors had traits allowing them and
driver and a pitchfork all legitimately ies has dominated the reasoning of their progeny to ßourish, whereas less
warrant the ÒWhat is it for?Ó question, theologians from Thomas Aquinas to Þt individuals perished with few or no
the mere fact that it is possible to frame William Paley. For example, Paley, the oÝspring. Our understanding of evolu-
a question does not make it legitimate 18th-century English theologian, assert- tion has come astonishingly recently,
or sensible to do so. There are many ed that if an object as comparatively in the past century and a half. Before
things about which you can ask ÒWhat simple as a watch requires a watch- Darwin, even educated people who had
is its temperature ?Ó or ÒWhat color is maker, then far more complicated liv- abandoned the ÒWhyÓ question for
it?Ó but you may not ask the tempera- ing creatures must certainly have been rocks, streams and eclipses still implic-
Copyright 1995 Scientific American, Inc. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN November 1995 81
SCOTT NIELSEN Bruce Coleman, Inc.
PAT GREANY USDA
itly accepted the legitimacy of the the object better explained as a machine ÒUtility functionÓ is a technical term
ÒWhyÓ question where living creatures designed to do such and such?Ó not of engineers but of economists. It
were concerned. Now only the scientiÞ- means Òthat which is maximized.Ó Eco-
The slide rule, talisman until recently
cally illiterate do. But ÒonlyÓ conceals of the honorable profession of engineer,
nomic planners and social engineers are
the unpalatable truth that we are still is as obsolete in the electronic age asrather like architects and physical engi-
talking about an absolute majority of any Bronze Age relic. An archaeologist neers in that they strive to optimize
the worldÕs population. of the future, Þnding a slide rule and something. Utilitarians strive for Òthe
wondering about it, might note that it greatest happiness of the greatest num-
Engineering a Cheetah is handy for drawing straight lines or ber.Ó Others avowedly increase their
own happiness at the expense of the
for buttering bread. But a mere straight-
D arwin assumed that natu-
ral selection favored those
individuals best Þtted to sur-
edge or butter knife would not have common welfare. If you reverse-engi-
neer the behavior of one coun-
tryÕs government, you may con-
vive and reproduce. This state- We humans have purpose on the brain. clude that what is being opti-
ment is equivalent to saying that mized is employment and
natural selection favors those We Þnd it diÛcult to look universal welfare. For another
genes that replicate through country, the utility function
many generations. Although at anything without wondering what may turn out to be the contin-
the two formulations are com- ued power of the president, the
parable, the ÒgeneÕs-eye viewÓ it is ÒforÓÑwhat the ÒmotiveÓ for it wealth of a particular ruling
has several advantages that be- family, the size of the sultanÕs
come clear when we consider or the purpose behind it might be. harem, the stability of the Mid-
two technical concepts: reverse dle East or the maintenance of
engineering and utility function. the price of oil. The point is
Reverse engineering is a technique of needed a sliding member in the mid- that more than one utility function can
reasoning that works like this: you are dle. Moreover, the precise logarithmic be imagined. It is not always obvious
an engineer, confronted with an artifact scales are too meticulously disposed to what individuals, Þrms or governments
you have found and do not understand. be accidental. It would dawn on the ar- are striving to achieve.
You make the working assumption that chaeologist that, in an age before elec- Let us return to living bodies and try
it was designed for some purpose. You tronic calculators, this pattern would to extract their utility function. There
dissect and analyze the object with a constitute an ingenious trick for rapid could be many, but it will eventually
view to working out what problem it multiplication and division. The mys- turn out that they all reduce to one. A
would be good at solving : ÒIf I had tery of the slide rule would be solved by good way to dramatize our task is to
wanted to make a machine to do so and reverse engineering, using the assump- imagine that living creatures were made
so, would I have made it like this? Or is tion of intelligent, economical design. by a Divine Engineer and try to work
82 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN November 1995 Copyright 1995 Scientific American, Inc.
GREGORY G. DIMIJIAN Photo Researchers, Inc.
NORBERT WU
DIVERSITY OF LIFE reflects the innovative techniques that DNA exploits to maxi-
mize its survival. For example, a cheetahÕs leg muscles enable it to chase gazelles;
gazelles, however, are well equipped to outrun cheetahs. In this life-and-death
DAVID MADISON Bruce Coleman, Inc.
struggle, both animals strive to guarantee their survival and that of their DNA. Par-
asitic wasps seek to maximize survival of their DNA by preying on caterpillars: a
female wasp lays an egg in a caterpillar paralyzed by her sting ; after hatching, the
wasp larva eats the caterpillar alive. Physical characteristics used in mating rituals
are as specialized as those for hunting. Many birds, such as the Himalayan pheas-
ant, and fish, including the Oriental sweetlips, display a kaleidoscope of color to at-
tract mates and ensure reproduction of DNA. Plants, too, compete with others for
an opportunity to reproduce. Tropical rain forests stretch toward the sky as each
tree seeks more sunlight and a better chance of spreading seedlings.
out, by reverse engineering, what the which is being maximized in the natu- ground used by male birds for display-
Engineer was trying to maximize: GodÕs ral world, is DNA survival. But DNA is ing themselves in front of females. Fe-
Utility Function. not ßoating free; it is locked up in liv- males visit the lek and watch the swag-
Cheetahs give every indication of be- ing bodies, and it has to make the most gering demonstrations of a number of
ing superbly designed for something, of the levers of power at its disposal. males before singling one out and cop-
and it should be easy enough to reverse- Genetic sequences that Þnd themselves ulating with him. The males of lekking
engineer them and work out their util- in cheetah bodies maximize their sur- species often have bizarre ornamenta-
ity function. They appear to be well de- vival by causing those bodies to kill ga- tion that they show oÝ with equally re-
signed to kill gazelles. The teeth, claws, zelles. Sequences that Þnd themselves markable bowing or bobbing move-
eyes, nose, leg muscles, backbone and in gazelle bodies increase their chance ments and strange noises. The words
brain of a cheetah are all precisely what of survival by promoting opposite ends. ÒbizarreÓ and Òremarkable,Ó of course,
we would expect if GodÕs purpose in de- But the same utility functionÑthe sur- reßect subjective value judgments. Pre-
signing cheetahs was to maxi- sumably, lekking male black
mize deaths among gazelles. grouse, with their puÝed-up
Conversely, if we reverse-engi- Nothing can stop the spread of DNA dances accompanied by cork-
neer a gazelle, we shall Þnd popping noises, do not seem
equally impressive evidence of that has no beneÞcial eÝect other than strange to the females of their
design for precisely the oppo- own species, and this is all that
site end: the survival of gazelles making males beautiful to females. matters. In some cases, female
and starvation among cheetahs. birdsÕ idea of beauty happens to
It is as though cheetahs were coincide with ours, and the re-
designed by one deity, gazelles by a ri- vival of DNAÑexplains the ÒpurposeÓ sult is a peacock or a bird of paradise.
val deity. Alternatively, if there is only of both the cheetah and the gazelle.
one Creator who made the tiger and the This principle, once recognized, ex- The Function of Beauty
lamb, the cheetah and the gazelle, what plains a variety of phenomena that are
is He playing at? Is He a sadist who en- otherwise puzzlingÑamong them the
joys spectator blood sports? Is He try- energetically costly and often laughable N
ightingale songs, pheasant tails, Þre-
ßy ßashes and the rainbow scales
ing to avoid overpopulation in the struggles of male animals to attract fe- of tropical reef Þsh are all maximizing
mammals of Africa? Is He maneuver- males, including their investment in aesthetic beauty, but it is not, or is only
ing to boost David AttenboroughÕs tele- Òbeauty.Ó Mating rituals often resemble incidentally, beauty for human delecta-
vision ratings? These are all intelligible the (now thankfully unfashionable) Miss tion. If we enjoy the spectacle, it is a
utility functions that might have turned World pageant but with males parading bonus, a by-product. Genes that make
out to be true. In fact, of course, they the catwalk. This analogy is seen most males attractive to females automatical-
are all completely wrong. clearly in the ÒleksÓ of such birds as ly Þnd themselves passed down to sub-
The true utility function of life, that grouse and ruÝs. A lek is a patch of sequent generations. There is only one
Copyright 1995 Scientific American, Inc. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN November 1995 83
utility function that makes sense of ous excesses. For example, peacocks time and energy singing. This certainly
these beauties: the quantity that is be- are burdened with Þnery so heavy and imperils them, not only because it at-
ing diligently optimized in every cran- cumbersome that it would gravely ham- tracts predators but also because it
ny of the living world is, in every case, per their eÝorts to do useful workÑif drains energy and uses time that could
the survival of the DNA responsible for they felt inclined to do useful work, be spent replenishing that energy. A
the feature you are trying to explain. which, on the whole, they donÕt. Male student of wren biology claimed that
This force also accounts for mysteri- songbirds use dangerous amounts of one of his wild males sang itself literal-
BETTMANN ARCHIVE
The Great Leveler
O ne way multicellular organisms maximize DNA sur-
vival is by wasting little energy on ensuring that or-
gans survive indefinitely. Automobile makers use a
similar approach when constructing cars. The Dar-
winian psychologist Nicholas Humphrey, then at
the University of Cambridge, developed this
particular analogy. Humphrey, in the book
Consciousness Regained: Chapters in the
Development of Mind, supposed that Hen-
ry Ford, the patron saint of manufacturing
efficiency, once
. . . commissioned a survey of the car scrap-
yards of America to find out if there were parts MODEL T was not made to run forever, so it would have
of the Model T Ford which never failed. His inspectors been foolish to waste money on indestructible parts.
came back with reports of almost every kind of failure: axles,
survey of gibbon corpses to count the frequency of break-
brakes, pistons—all were liable to go wrong. But they drew at-
age in each major bone of the body. Suppose it turned out
tention to one notable exception, the kingpins of the scrapped
that every bone breaks at some time or another with one
cars invariably had years of life left in them. With ruthless log-
ic Ford concluded that the kingpins on the Model T were tooexception: the fibula (the calf bone that runs parallel to
the shinbone) has never ever been observed to break in
good for their job and ordered that in future they should be
made to an inferior specification. any gibbon. Henry Ford’s unhesitating prescription would
be to redesign the fibula to an inferior specification, and
You may, like me, be a little vague about what kingpins this is exactly what natural selection does, too. Mutant in-
are, but it doesn’t matter. They are something that a motor dividuals with an inferior fibula, whose growth rules called
car needs, and Ford’s alleged ruthlessness was, indeed, for diverting precious calcium away from the fibula, could
entirely logical. The alternative would have been to im- use the material saved to thicken other bones in the body
prove all the other bits of the car to bring them up to the and so reach the ideal of making every bone equally likely
standard of the kingpins. But then it would not have been to break. Or these individuals could use the calcium saved
a Model T he was manufacturing but a Rolls-Royce, and to make more milk and so rear more young. Bone can safe-
that was not the object of the exer- ly be shaved off the fibula, at least
cise. A Rolls-Royce is a respectable up to the point where it becomes as
car to manufacture, and so is a Mod- likely to break as the next most
el T—but for a different price. The durable bone. The alternative—the
trick is to make sure that the whole “Rolls-Royce solution” of bringing all
car is built either to Rolls-Royce spec- the other components up to the
ifications or to those for the Model T. standard of the fibula—is harder to
If you make a hybrid car with some achieve.
components of Model T quality and Natural selection favors a leveling
some components of Rolls-Royce out of quality in both the downward
quality, you are getting the worst of and upward directions until a proper
both worlds, for the car will be balance is struck over all parts of
thrown away when the weakest of the body. Seen from the perspective
its components wears out, and the of natural selection, aging and death
money spent on high-quality compo- from old age are the grim conse-
E. R. DEGGINGER Animals, Animals
nents that never have time to wear quences of such a balancing act. We
out is simply wasted. are descended from a long line of
Ford’s lesson applies even more young ancestors whose genes en-
strongly to living bodies than to cars sured vitality in the reproductive
because the components of a car can, years but made no provision for vig-
within limits, be replaced by spares. or in later years. A healthy youth is
Monkeys and gibbons make their crucial to ensure DNA survival. But a
living in the treetops, and there is al- healthy old age may be a luxury
ways a risk of falling and breaking GIBBON, too, was designedÑby natural analogous to the superior kingpins
bones. Let’s say we commissioned a selectionÑwith no indestructible parts. of the Model T. —R.D.
84 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN November 1995 Copyright 1995 Scientific American, Inc.
ly to death. Any utility function that had trees are ludicrously and wastefully tall. make the minor concession of anesthe-
the long-term welfare of the species at But it is ludicrous and wasteful only tizing caterpillars before they were eat-
heart, or even the individual survival of from the point of view of a rational en alive from within. But Nature is nei-
a particular male, would cut down on economic planner thinking in terms of ther kind nor unkind. She is neither
the amount of singing, the amount of maximizing eÛciency rather than sur- against suÝering nor for it. Nature is
displaying, the amount of Þghting vival of DNA. not interested in suÝering one way or
among males. Homely analogies abound. At a cock- the other unless it aÝects the survival of
Yet when natural selection is also tail party, everybody talks themselves DNA. It is easy to imagine a gene that,
considered from the perspective of hoarse. The reason is that everybody say, tranquilizes gazelles when they are
genes instead of just the survival and else is shouting at the top of their voic- about to suÝer a killing bite. Would such
reproduction of individuals, such be- es. If only everyone could agree to whis- a gene be favored by natural selection?
havior can be easily explained. Because per, they would hear one another exact- Not unless the act of tranquilizing a ga-
what is really being maximized in sing- ly as well, with less voice strain and less zelle improved that geneÕs chances of
ing wrens is DNA survival, nothing can expenditure of energy. But agreements being propagated into future genera-
stop the spread of DNA that has no ben- like that do not work unless they are tions. It is hard to see why this should
eÞcial eÝect other than making males policed. Somebody always spoils it by be so, and we may therefore guess that
beautiful to females. If some genes give selÞshly talking a bit louder, and, one gazelles suÝer horrible pain and fear
males qualities that females of the spe- by one, everybody has to follow suit. A when they are pursued to the deathÑ
cies happen to Þnd desirable, those stable equilibrium is reached only when as many of them eventually are.
genes, willy-nilly, will survive, The total amount of suÝering
even though the genes might per year in the natural world is
occasionally put some individ- So long as DNA is passed on, it does not beyond all decent contempla-
uals at risk. tion. During the minute that it
Humans have a rather en- matter who or what gets hurt in the takes me to compose this sen-
dearing tendency to assume tence, thousands of animals
that ÒwelfareÓ means group process. Genes donÕt care about suÝering, are being eaten alive, many oth-
welfare, that ÒgoodÓ means the ers are running for their lives,
good of society, the well-being because they donÕt care about anything. whimpering with fear, others
of the species or even of the are being slowly devoured from
ecosystem. GodÕs Utility Func- within by rasping parasites,
tion, as derived from a contemplation everybody is shouting as loudly as they thousands of all kinds are dying of
of the nuts and bolts of natural selec- physically can, and this is much louder starvation, thirst and disease. It must
tion, turns out to be sadly at odds with than they need from a ÒrationalÓ point be so. If there is ever a time of plenty,
such utopian visions. To be sure, there of view. Time and again, cooperative re- this very fact will automatically lead to
are occasions when genes may maxi- straint is thwarted by its own internal an increase in population until the nat-
mize their selÞsh welfare by program- instability. GodÕs Utility Function sel- ural state of starvation and misery is
ming unselÞsh cooperation or even self- dom turns out to be the greatest good restored.
sacriÞce by the organism. But group for the greatest number. GodÕs Utility In a universe of electrons and selÞsh
welfare is always a fortuitous conse- Function betrays its origins in an unco- genes, blind physical forces and genet-
quence, not a primary drive. ordinated scramble for selÞsh gain. ic replication, some people are going to
The realization that genes are selÞsh get hurt, other people are going to get
also explains excesses in the plant king- A Universe of IndiÝerence lucky, and you wonÕt Þnd any rhyme or
dom. Why are forest trees so tall? Sim- reason in it, nor any justice. The uni-
ply to overtop rival trees. A ÒsensibleÓ
utility function would see to it that they T o return to our pessimistic begin- verse that we observe has precisely the
ning, maximization of DNA surviv- properties we should expect if there
were all short. Then they would get ex- al is not a recipe for happiness. So long is, at bottom, no design, no purpose,
actly the same amount of sunlight with as DNA is passed on, it does not mat- no evil and no good, nothing but piti-
far less expenditure on thick trunks ter who or what gets hurt in the pro- less indiÝerence. As that unhappy poet
and massive supporting buttresses. But cess. Genes donÕt care about suÝering, A. E. Housman put it :
if they all were short, natural selection because they donÕt care about anything.
could not help favoring a variant indi- It is better for the genes of DarwinÕs For nature, heartless, witless nature
vidual that grew a little taller. The ante wasp that the caterpillar should be alive, Will neither care nor know
having been upped, others would have and therefore fresh, when it is eaten,
to follow suit. Nothing can stop the no matter what the cost in suÝering. If DNA neither cares nor knows. DNA
whole game from escalating until all Nature were kind, She would at least just is. And we dance to its music.
The Author Further Reading
RICHARD DAWKINS, an Englishman, was born in Kenya in 1941. Educated at the Univer- THE EXTENDED PHENOTYPE: THE LONG REACH
sity of Oxford, he completed his doctorate in zoology under the Nobel PrizeÐwinning ethol- OF THE GENE. Richard Dawkins. Oxford Uni-
ogist Niko Tinbergen. After two years on the faculty of the University of California, Berke- versity Press, 1989.
ley, Dawkins returned to Oxford, where he is now a reader in zoology and a fellow of New EVOLUTION. Mark Ridley. Blackwell Scientific
College. Dawkins is well known for his books The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker. Publications, 1993.
His next book, Climbing Mount Improbable, will be published by W. W. Norton in the spring DARWINÕS DANGEROUS IDEA: EVOLUTION AND
of 1996. Dawkins will soon take up the newly endowed Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Un- THE MEANINGS OF LIFE. Daniel C. Dennett.
derstanding of Science at Oxford. Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Copyright 1995 Scientific American, Inc. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN November 1995 85
