Reply to comment

I’m a little hesitant aboutDennett’s explanations for cultural evolution in terms of biological evolution.  A lot of his explanations and metaphorsjust don’t make sense to me.  I’mstill not sure if I know exactly what a mene is.  Some of the parallels he draws seem a little weak.  It makes sense to try and explaincultural evolution without skyhooks, but Dennett does not do a very good job.      

            Fromour previous discussion of algorithms a particular point that stood out to mewas the idea that if evolution is just a series of algorithm why don’t we justend up with one species sense they are all undergoing the same process.  This made me think of a Rubik’scube.  I don’t know how many peopleknow how to solve a Rubik’s cube, but you do it with a series of algorithms.  Its not just one, but five or sixalgorithms that have to be applied in a certain order, in certain situations, acertain number of times.  Thealgorithms produce different results depending on what you start with and whatalgorithms are applied and in what order. And that is why using the metaphor of algorithms as an explanation forevolution makes sense.