Gene-centered view of evolution selection was developed mainly in the works of Richard Dawkins, W. D. Hamilton, Colin Pittendrigh and George C. Williams. It was mainly popularized and expanded by Dawkins in his book "The Selfish Gene" (1976). According to Williams' 1966 book "Adaptation and Natural Selection", Williams argued that "[t]he natural selection of phenotypes cannot in itself produce cumulative change, because phenotypes are extremely temporary manifestations." Each phenotype is the unique product of the interaction between genome and environment. It does not matter how fit and fertile a phenotype is, it will eventually be destroyed and will never be duplicated. Since 1954, it
Gene-centered view of evolution the genes in combination with their vehicle as well as in combination with the vehicle's environment. The selfish-gene theory of natural selection can be restated as follows: The result is that "the prevalent genes in a sexual population must be those that, as a mean condition, through a large number of genotypes in a large number of situations, have had the most favourable phenotypic effects for their own replication." In other words, we expect selfish genes ("selfish" meaning that it promotes its own survival without necessarily promoting the survival of the organism, group or even species). This theory implies that