Yes, the comparison can be interesting, but I think one needs to be very, very careful in how such analogies are used. The danger is that the analogy comes to be taken as the literal reality - critical differences can be obscurred and imaginary/erroneous equivalences created. Social Darwinism is the classic example of how very wrong things can go when analogy and reality are conflated, but the problem can be more subtle in the damage it can do to understanding.
Is it really the case that cells are better tuned to each other? Or, is it the case that people are simply tuned to each other differently? In my opinion at least, people are extraordinarily well tuned to each other - but (for one thing) they are also a much more autonomous entity than a cell, so their relationship and interactions are of a different quality. In this light, for example, one can say that it is the cell which is more likely to become destructive in terms of it doing damage to the organism as a whole since their margin for error is so narrow, the interdependency greater, and their adaptability pretty much zero.
How is that the analogy allows for such contradictory statements (cell is more/less likely to be destructive)? Or, questioning the specifics of the analogy: why do we view 'type killers' as perpetrating an especially heinous crime, one that is not only a crime against individuals, but a crime against society and humanity in general?
This sort of discrepency between the systems needs to be highlighted and fully accounted for before any analogy can be made or conclusions drawn, else it can be very misleading. Glossing over the differences simply allows way too broad a spectrum of interpretation (such that it can mean whatever one wants it to mean); or worse, it can become a case where it's the analogy rather than the data which dictates the interpretation.
I'm not saying that is what Dr. Bloom has done, but the question I feel needs to be answered here is: Is it the case that a sponge is the equivalent of a society?
A top level question for that might be: Does a society have the distinct boundaries and identity as an entity that a sponge has?
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at: 10/30/05 4:14 pm
