I could be wrong because I have not given OOP biochemistry much thought but I do not think, we will know this about "lateral" or "horizonatal" gene transfer as true {any time soon} (my brain seems to think that this is about the position effect and the place within every cell (not 'any' nor "all") of mutation). A hypothesis, sans sensu stricto given may be (sensu lato) but unless we really have re-usable objects that could be uniform while the computers so diverse as to blend into the background (the hardware made of silicon, plastic or DNA?)we probably will be hung up on trying to answer this question to consensus. I was not pleased with what Gould did with the topic in Natural History. A phone is not a computer.