--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Natural selection builds child brains…" description: "\"“Natural selection builds child brains with a tendency to believe whatever their parents and tribal elders tell them. Such trusting obedience is valuab..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee3/richard-dawkins-115_children_natural-selection-builds-child-brains-wi_1240196.jpg" --- # Natural selection builds child brains with a tendency to… ![“Natural selection builds child brains with a tendency to believe whatever their parents and tribal elders tell them. Such trusting obedience is valuable for survival: the analogue of steering by the moon for a moth. But the flip side of trusting obedience is slavish gullibility. The inevitable…” quote by Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee3/richard-dawkins-115_children_natural-selection-builds-child-brains-wi_1240196.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee3/richard-dawkins-115_children_natural-selection-builds-child-brains-wi_1240196.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee3/richard-dawkins-115_children_natural-selection-builds-child-brains-wi_1240196.jpg) > ““Natural selection builds child brains with a tendency to believe whatever their parents and tribal elders tell them. Such trusting obedience is valuable for survival: the analogue of steering by the moon for a moth. But the flip side of trusting obedience is slavish gullibility. The inevitable by-product is vulnerability to infection by mind viruses.”” [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Humans inherit a brain wired to trust authority, which helped survival but also makes us vulnerable to harmful ideas that spread like viruses. **In simple terms:** Our brains trust leaders, which can be both helpful and risky. Key Takeaway Cultivate critical thinking to balance trust and skepticism. Themes trust obedience vulnerability memes evolution Mood cautious inquisitive Type ethical psychological When to use this quote - education - media consumption - political discourse - public health campaigns Key Concepts Evolutionary psychology social learning cognitive bias Questions to Reflect On - What beliefs do you accept without questioning? - How can societies protect against harmful ideas? A Different Perspective Blind trust can lead to harmful conformity if not checked. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Natural selection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-selection/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Obedience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obedience/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Trust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trust/) ## Related quotes > [Don't tell me you're trusting God until you trust Him with your pocketbook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-vernon-mcgee/don-t-tell-me-you-re-trusting-god-until-you-trust-him-with-your/) [J. Vernon McGee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-vernon-mcgee/) > [I desire to press forward for direction to my Master in all things; but as to trusting to my own obedience and righteousness, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/i-desire-to-press-forward-for-direction-to-my-master-in-all-things/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [“Darwin singled out the eye as posing a particularly challenging problem: 'To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/darwin-singled-out-the-eye-as-posing-a-particularly-challenging/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Design can never be an ultimate explanation for anything. It can only be a proximate explanation. A plane or a car is explained by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/design-can-never-be-an-ultimate-explanation-for-anything-it-can-only/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“A deep understanding of Darwinism teaches us to be wary of the easy assumption that design is the only alternative to chance”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/a-deep-understanding-of-darwinism-teaches-us-to-be-wary-of-the-easy/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [For me, the level at which natural selection causes the phenomenon of adaptation is the level of the replicator - the gene.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/for-me-the-level-at-which-natural-selection-causes-the-phenomenon-of/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-total-amount-of-suffering-per-year-in-the-natural-world-is-beyond/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation forthe existence and apparently purposeful form…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-the-blind-unconscious-automatic-process-which/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“In giving rise to man, the evolutionary process has, apparently for the first and only time in the history of the Cosmos, become conscious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/in-giving-rise-to-man-the-evolutionary-process-has-apparently-for-the/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“But the very fact that Darwinism is true makes it even more important for us to fight against the naturally selfish and exploitative tendencies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/but-the-very-fact-that-darwinism-is-true-makes-it-even-more-important/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Mutation is random; natural selection is the very opposite of random.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/mutation-is-random-natural-selection-is-the-very-opposite-of-random/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“Evolution by natural selection is the explanation for why we exist. It is not something to guide our lives in our own society. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/evolution-by-natural-selection-is-the-explanation-for-why-we-exist-it/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“The point of the prey being paralysed rather than killed, by the way, is that they don't decay but are eaten alive and are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-point-of-the-prey-being-paralysed-rather-than-killed-by-the-way/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Natural selection is anything but random.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/natural-selection-is-anything-but-random/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“The earliest form of natural selection was simply a selection of stable forms and a rejection of unstable ones. 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And of all its money-making rip-offs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-roman-catholic-church-is-an-institution-for-whose-gains-the/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/let-us-understand-what-our-own-selfish-genes-are-up-to-because-we-may/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [What's going to happen when I die? I may be buried, or I may be cremated, I may give my body to science. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/what-s-going-to-happen-when-i-die-i-may-be-buried-or-i-may-be/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them. 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