Rob

I think that they were implying that the very same liability has had certain advantages.

They certainly were. It is possibly the very reason we have such a rich culture. In 1976 Richard Dawkins tried to illustrate how evolution would apply to any good enough replicator. He (just for his argument) coined the term Meme being a unit of cultural exchange (an idea to you and me) copied with good enough fidelity from brain to brain where these things live. People argue that the copying isn't faithful enough and will go wrong rapidly, so the parallel with gene behaviour will break down. Victoria Horner's work suggests that for certain types of Meme (mechanical skills and expressions) the copying could be very faithful indeed.

Please report back from the Rabbis. I'll be interested in their views.

My general point though was that metaphors brought together with religious faith (believing true without evidence) equals poison.