On Sat, 21 Sep 1996, Michael Williams wrote:
> I am sceptical about the robustness of the analogy between evolutionary
> biology and sociobiology.
> Neither types of behaviour nor social institutions have exhibited anything
> like the degree of variation, diversity of 'species' nor stability of
> environment common in biology.
Personally, I find the analogy suggestive rather than rigorous.
Dawkins is clear that memes are not really at par with genes --
for one thing, memes can behave in a Lamarckian manner. I also
agree that (in)stability of the environment is a problem for this
way of looking at things.
Allin Cottrell