Exactly. Denis Noble wrote a perfect counter to the trap of thinking that this metaphor often leads to (although not in Dawnkins himself). In The Music of Life[1] he <i>invert</i> the metaphor: instead of us being &quot;lumbering hulks, slaves to our genes&quot;, our genes are captives of our bodies, depending on our choices to keep existing. Noble&#x27;s point was that you could neither prove nor disprove one to be more accurate a metaphor than the other, despite having the <i>total opposite</i> interpretation.<p>I&#x27;m not saying kmonad&#x27;s explanation is wrong, just that it&#x27;s dangerous to not be aware of the underlying metaphor.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;musicoflife.co.uk&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;musicoflife.co.uk&#x2F;</a>