I can understand objecting to the negative moral connotations of “selfish” (as applied to genes), but attaching “innocence” to genes with its positive moral connotations seems like erring in the opposite direction. What do you think about creating a new word to describe genes, that has a similar denotation to “selfish” but without the unwanted moral connotations?
Yeah, as I say, I think “neither innocent nor guilty” is least misleading—but I find “innocent” an evocative frame. Do you have suggestions for an alternative to “selfish”?
I can understand objecting to the negative moral connotations of “selfish” (as applied to genes), but attaching “innocence” to genes with its positive moral connotations seems like erring in the opposite direction. What do you think about creating a new word to describe genes, that has a similar denotation to “selfish” but without the unwanted moral connotations?
Yeah, as I say, I think “neither innocent nor guilty” is least misleading—but I find “innocent” an evocative frame. Do you have suggestions for an alternative to “selfish”?