Hmm...if I were a botanist, I think I'd get a bit weary of always having to interrupt a high-bandwidth dialogue with a peer to insert sufficient fawning to appease those who might otherwise judge us for the things we did not say.<p>About the merits of the analogy:  professional versus passing interest is not really relevant.  The salient point is that anything can be discussed on multiple, distinct levels of abstraction, and speaking of it on one level of abstraction does not invalidate or denigrate another level.   Have you read Douglas Hofstadter's classic Godel, Escher, Bach?  I recommend it highly.