"Desires are already memories"

Reading a book is simple: you start on the first page and end with the last one. Not too hard, is it? However, the first thing I had to do with Invisible Cities was decide whether I should read it in order, from page one to 165, or in the order of the chapters' titles. I wanted something that would allow me to understand the book better. I was inclined to decide to read it in the order it was written in, but then decided against it. This way I would get a better idea of what each type of cities were like, and how they related. In the end I would connect them on my own.

And so I began with "Cities and Memory." Evidently, they are about memory. All five cities have one thing in common, and that is that in all of them memories prevent people from enjoying life. In Diomira, those who have already experienced something identical to the present, are too caught up thinking about how happy they were last time. In addition, those who haven't already experienced this, are jealous of those who have. Similarly, Zaira is a city based on only memories. "As this wave from memories flows in, the city soaks it up like a sponge and expands." (Page 10) It is a city in which everything has to do with the past; it basically is its past. Zora, another one of these cities, is so caught up in being a memory, it ends up being in the past instead f the present, and everyone forgets it.

In Maurilia, Calvino addresses cities in the past versus cities in the present. He criticizes how citizens idealize the past, and live wishing for a place they never knew. However, this place they long for was actually not how they picture it. Calvino proves it by saying "Admitting that the magnificence and prosperity of the metropolis Maurilia, when compare to the old, provincial Maurilia, cannot compensate for a certain lost grace, which, however, can be appreciated only now in the old post cards, whereas before, when that provincial Maurilia was before one's eyes, one saw absolutely nothing graceful and would see it even less today, if Maurilia had remained unchanged." (Page 30) With "postcards" Calvino is probably referring to the elders. They usually talk about the "olden days," which they believe were much better. However, they are probably glorifying the past without even realizing by just showing the good things, just like postcards do.

Isidora is a very similar place. A man spends a lot of time in the "wild regions," which most likely stand for the young years of his life, and then comes to this city. It has spiral staircases with spiral seashells, which symbolize the cycle of life, strengthening the aspect of aging. This city is everything the old man has ever wanted. Well, it's everything he's wished for, except that now he's old. So what does he do instead of enjoying everything? He sits and watches the young go by, making his life a memory instead of a reality.

With these five cities, Calvino is portraying nostalgia and aging. He criticizes how people are too caught up thinking about what other have and about that their past, that they forget to enjoy what they have right then. And it's absolutely true. Little kids spend their youth pretending they're adults and wishing to be as big as their parents. Yet, once we've grown up, we spend a lot of time reminiscing the past. So we never take full advantage and value what we have right now, we're to busy being melancholic about the past and (even though Calvino hasn't mentioned this) worried about the future.

"Blind faith can justify anything."

Technology has become increasingly important in our society throughout the years. In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins demonstrates his open-mindedness by saying that technology and other cultural aspects like religion, fashion, architecture, art, etc. can be considered to evolve. Again, a pattern in this book appears: How mistakes make something new. Dawkins explains that it is only through mistakes that new "memes" (see below for definition) are created. For example, in birds, when a tune is misconstructed, a new one is created.

Another pattern is also portrayed once again: Competition. He in a way implies that the only way for a meme to survive is through survival of the fittest. In other words, it must get rid of competition - or at least minimize it - in order to become popular and prevail through generations. For example, if a religion is to last, it must reduce the amount of people who believe in others. It could be said, that different religions are rivals of each other,  and so are different styles of architecture, different types of art, etc.

I'm not the only one who decides to use the example of definition, though. Dawkins does as well, and it seems like he criticizes it at every chance he gets. Out of all the examples he could use - fashion, art, music, architecture, technology - the one he uses the most is religion. And not to boast about it, or even favor it in any way. It could be even be said that he mocks it. He portrays God as something that would die out easily if it weren't for popular belief in him (which could be said to be true, but still adds to his criticism) when he says "God exists, if only in the form of a meme with high survival value, or ineffective power, in the environment provided by human culture." (P. 193) Not only is he attacking religion but also presenting God merely as man's fictitious creation.

It doesn't stop here, though. Afterwards, to show how memes help each other to propagate themselves, he doesn't use inventions or anything of the sort; he uses religion again. He uses one of the church's most criticized aspects: How it utilizes fear to control the people. Then he explains that the idea of hell and the "God meme" help each other prevail. He describes this technique as "nasty", and then considers whether it could have been a psychological technique arranged by priests, but then decides they couldn't be "that clever."

He does this one last time. He uses the example of celibacy and describes a priest trying to convince young kids to follow this idea. However, he  doesn't just say children, but a"young boys who have not yet decided what they want to with their lives." (P. 198) This implies that the children are still very young and maybe even quite naïve, leading the reader to agree that the priest is manipulating the children since they don't know much about what everything is like. They would probably come to regret their decision later, but the priest has earned followers for the celibacy meme, and that is what every meme wants: More followers than the rest.

Vocabulary

Cultural mutations (P. 190): The rearrangement of a cultural aspect.

Meme (P. 192): A replicator of human culture.

Psychological appeal (P. 193): Appeal to brains.

Imitation (P. 194): "How memes can replicate." (P. 194)

Idea-meme (P. 196): "An entity that is capable of being transmitted from one brain to another." (P. 196)

“You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours.”

For a long time, humans have observed that animals live in groups: Wolfs in packs, fish in schools, birds in flocks, etc. However, I used to believe they did this just for the sake of it, or even simply to have company (as naïve as that may sound). However, Dawkins explain that animals do not live in groups just because, there is a whole bigger reason, and this can be traced to nothing else but selfishness. When they are surrounded by many of the same species, animals are less likely to be eaten, thus allowing them to propagate their own genes.

Although Dawkins avoids using human beings as models, his own examples clearly demonstrate that humans are no exceptions. True, I do not hang out friends to make sure they protect me from harm, and this is probably because society has managed to protect us and removed many of or primitive habits. But still, it hasn’t eliminated our instincts and there are both subconscious and conscious things that humans do, that can be traced back to selfishness.

For example, most people I know dislike being left to sit on the corner in places like the cinema. I had never asked myself why, but this is probably due to an instinctive feeling of vulnerability we dot give much thought to.  Perhaps this makes us feel more prone to danger without even realizing. Similarly, a friend once told me that many people subconsciously sit facing the door because their instincts want them to be on the look out, and this certainly applies to Dawkins theory. If they had their back to the door, any threat could approach without them noticing, so their primordial instincts lead them directly to a seat facing the door (I’m not saying it applies to all cases, but it does apply to many).

Just like there are ways in which we subconsciously want people around us to protect us, there are also ways that we are fully aware of. For example, people feel safer when walking on the street when another person is with them. However, many have probably not stopped to think that if they were attacked in any way, let’s say mugged, their companion would have no way of protecting them. It’s almost as if they were alone, yet we feel safer with someone by our side. Maybe deep, deep down, very subconsciously, we are hoping that they’ll be attacked instead of us, just like animals do…?

There are also bodyguards, who are hired to protect a person who is more prone to danger. However, these bodyguards are also selfish and won’t do it just for the sake of it. In exchange for protecting a person, they receive money, which Dawkins acknowledges as a “formal token of delayed reciprocal altruism.” (Page 188) So even though many people believe we are the exception to animal savagery and primordial instinctiveness, we are not. We might even be more similar to animals than we initially though.

Vocabulary

Reciprocal altruism (P. 166): Doing a favor to another, expecting to later benefit from this.

Selfish herd (P. 167):  A herd of selfish individuals

Cave Theory (P. 169): The theory that an animal of a certain species warns others about a danger for the purely selfish reason of avoiding others from catching the predator’s eye.

Never Break Ranks Theory (P. 169): The theory that an animal warns others of the same species about a danger to avoid being left as the only one and thus losing the advantage of living in a group.

Symbiosis (P. 181): Also known as mutualism, this is the “relationship of mutual benefit between members of different species.”

Sucker (P. 184): An animal that helps another even if the other won’t help in return, “indiscriminate altruists.”

Cheat (P. 184): “Gain benefits without paying the costs.”

Grudger (P. 185): Only help those who help them in return.

Evolutionary Stable Strategy (P. 185): A strategy that is prone to defeat others and evolve.  

"DNA works in mysterious ways."

Humans have been on earth for million of years, and still we don’t even know half of the animals and plants we share our planet with; yet, we think we do. It is nearly impossible to know every single species, as (as Dawkins says) there are around three million different types of insects alone. And still we continue to believe we know everything, and we have the power over the world. But we don’t, and Dawkins proves this by saying that every species depends on the others; like trees depend on monkeys and water depends on fish.

Dawkins also explains how chromosomes work. In the past, teachers have tried explaining this to me and I’ve barely understood a thing. However, Dawkins, with an allegory, was able to make me understand easily for the first time. He compares the human body to a building, each cell to a room, the nucleus to bookcases, chromosomes to 46 volumes of books, and genes to pages. He then proceeds to explain by using this allegory and once the reader understands, he simply uses the real terms. Surprisingly, with no need for questions, everything was clear for once and for all.

“Acquired characteristics are no inherited,” says Dawkins (Page 23), and I completely agree. People sometimes think a boy is good at soccer because he inherited it from his father, or that another is good at math because he inherited it from his mother. But I disagree. Things like math and soccer, although they have been present for a long time, were initially created by man, so genes cannot carry information for these. However, by living in an environment were these are practiced and by one practicing these as well, one can develop the skills necessary. This is the inherited vs. acquired debate comes in, but I believe skills are acquired; so it doesn’t depend only depend on who your parents are, but where you live.

"Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines."

For years we have been taught science. What chemicals are, what they're made up of, the periodic table, evolution, etc. This bring up the debate of science vs. religion. Some say it was God who created the universe, while others ridiculize this idea and say it was nothing greater than a new mixture of molecules. Truthfully, I believe we'll never know, because we weren't there and nobody will be able to come back from the dead and confirm whether God exists or not. So we'll just keep doubting, never knowing what is actually true. With such a scientific book, it is evident that Dawkins supports the scientific theory over the religious one. This is specially obvious when he discusses errors made in history and chooses out of all examples to say "I suppose the scholars of the Septuagint could at least be said to have started something big when they mistranslated the Hebrew word for 'young woman' into the Greek word for 'virgin', coming up with the prophecy: 'Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son...'" (p.16) By doing so, he is attacking religion in a way which could be called subtle, as he can simply deny it when he is criticized and say it was an incorrect inference made by the reader.

Never had I realized that everything we know - all humans, other animals, and plants - came from the same molecule. Never until now, that is; thanks to The Selfish Gene. Richard Dawkins explains that we were created by accident, since the replicator molecule wasn't even meant to be formed. But it was. And so it began replicating until errors in replication caused the existence of hundreds of different replicas. This is what allowed animals and plants to be created. Before, there was only one type of molecule. But now since there were tons of different ones, it became a competition: survival of the fittest.

Never before had replicas had to fight to survive. However, with the newly-formed diversity, they were forced to create various new defense devices to outsmart others, and survive. This is the reason why they created what today is known as the cell wall, which in the end allowed life to appear on earth, and created us, their "survival machines."