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In the reading for our next class Dennet writes about genes vs. memes, and the basic analogy that's been drawn between biological evolution and cultural evolution, which is the next major topic he tackles. His description of the argument over how alike these processes are or can possible be-- how far to take the analogy between genetics and "memetics"-- ended up highlighting for me a basic problem that I have with his arguments (probably not what he intended).

We've talked a lot about the many analogies that Dennet uses to describe different scientific theories for us, but how reliable are those analogies? He lets us know that he is writing a story, not a formal argument, but can I really allow myself to be convinced of a scientific theory by a book with so little science in it? The analogies may make scientific concepts more accessible, but I'm afraid that too much is being lost in the extra layer between the ideas themselves, Dennet's descriptions of them, and my own understanding of those descriptions.