Noun
selfish gene (plural selfish genes)
(evolutionary theory) The gene regarded as the primary driver and beneficiary of the evolutionary process.
I think we all have a selfish gene which rises to the top, sometimes. But then we're also all capable of a sudden magnanimity. Jim Broadbent
Science is a victim of its own reductive metaphors: 'Big Bang,' 'selfish gene' and so on. Richard Dawkins' selfish gene fitted with the Thatcherite politics of the time. It should actually be the 'altruistic gene,' but he'd never have sold as many books with a title like that. Charles Jencks