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I too have a problem with Dennett's analogy of memes to genes. Within our DNA there is a set limit on the number of genes we posses, but everything within a biological system derives from this set of genes. I feel that for memes to be the building blocks of culture there would almost need to be an infinite number of memes and new original memes are always forming. If memes are strictly archetypal, then some parts of our culture would slip through the cracks and would be "sky hooks" in the sense that they lack a foundational source. Though memes may be useful for sorting purposes, an infinite number of memes makes sorting almost useless. I think it is helpful in a broad sense to think of memes as building blocks of culture as Dawkins does, but Dennett takes the analogy too far. His analysis of Dawkins' meme reminds me of an article in a journal I read last year in which the author used economic systems as an analogy for defining species. The analogy was helpful for understanding how hybrids fit into species concepts but the author erred in going too far with his analogy to the point that he was modeling nature off of economics when economics is really modeled off of nature. If an economic law changes, nature will not do so readily in response. I feel that authors like Dennett become so wrapped up in their own theories that the theories take on a life of their own regardless of whether or not they reflect reality, which one can see by the fact that almost all of Dennett's references are his own books.  I think of a pun from the German author Bertolt Brecht's Geschichten vom Herrn Keuner "Wenn Herr K. einen Menschen liebte"

"Was tun Sie", wurde Herr K. gefragt, "Wenn Sie einen Menschen lieben?" "Ich mache einen Entwurf von ihm", sagte Herr K., "und sorge, dass er ihm ähnlich wird." "Wer? Der Entwurf?" "Nein", sagte Herr K., "der Mensch."

This translates to English "What would you do if you loved a man?" Mr. K was asked. Mr. K responded, "I would make a draft of him, and would make sure that he was the same as him." "Who? The draft?" Mr. K responded, "No, the man."

I feel this pun sums up nicely how we tend to form a thesis and then run wild with it without check.