Ford Denison points out that genes may be easier to trace than ideas:
As DNA sequencing gets cheaper (see “Son of Moore’s Law,” by [Richard] Dawkins [reprinted in the Devil’s Chaplain]), identifying the source of germplasm could indeed be automated. Identifying the source of ideas is trickier. If I cross two plants, each leaves a clear fingerprint in the DNA. But if I combine two or more ideas, even I may not remember where they came from.
Which gets perilously close to Matt Ridley’s argument about how ideas make progress.