Sounds to me somewhat like realizing you can grok a new large source code base by looking at the series of pull requests that got you there. (Without, of course, the benefit of any comments).
No I think it's more like you have a codebase - without history - that just happens to behave appropriately with a compatible codebase, or with this virus, or with additional resources
It starts as this, but with the help of evolutionary science it can (piecewise) proceed closer to the parent’s understanding.