IMHO, it’s bad form to use the term “gene” as shorthand for “nucleic replicator”.
Gene is, or should be a general biological term, as should genetics. Tying these concepts to one genetic medium—a-la molecular biology—would be short sighted, and would make it unnecessarily difficult to discuss pre-nucleic genetics.
So by all means distingish between cellular and cultural inheritance, but please don’t do so by calling the former “genes” and the latter “memes”—and claiming that the concepts are mutually exclusive.
IMHO, it’s bad form to use the term “gene” as shorthand for “nucleic replicator”.
Gene is, or should be a general biological term, as should genetics. Tying these concepts to one genetic medium—a-la molecular biology—would be short sighted, and would make it unnecessarily difficult to discuss pre-nucleic genetics.
So by all means distingish between cellular and cultural inheritance, but please don’t do so by calling the former “genes” and the latter “memes”—and claiming that the concepts are mutually exclusive.