Content–provenance coupling shapes lineage survival

This proposed mechanism asks whether online ideas can survive with checkable sources. It focuses on a cultural lineage, a chain of later versions of an idea: does it last differently when contacts carrying content overlap with a route recipients use to verify the source? The test would use controlled relay networks, groups passing messages onward. Researchers would shift overlap while matching contacts and timing. They would measure source-qualified lineage survival, survival of versions linked to a verified origin, separately from copying or reach. Retain it only if realignment changes this outcome and established network models fail to predict it in unused test networks. Calibration must confirm that participants follow the routes and understand source information.