> I don’t care what’s possible, I asked what was plausible.

OK then. BOTH ARE PLAUSIBLE. Clear enough?

It's absolutely not up to me to decide whether they came up with it independently.

But then again, it isn't up to you, Jim.

> If you aren’t willing to say you believe this, you are just asking me to waste my time arguing with a phantom opinion nobody holds.

This is the weirdest thing to put in a comment you could simply not have made. If your time is so valuable why are you here commenting on HN?

Again: aphorisms have value regardless of how many times they are used. People can use them without you having the right to demand proof they thought them up for themselves like some prep school debate bully picking on a younger child.