It always seems to get deployed as a "The West are the only true innovators" and ignored if its like... The Islamic golden age or whatever. Also like some Arabian merchant couldn't have seen a steam train and gone "Oh, that's a good idea", it required colonialism to get ideas like plumbing etc. all over the world.
Bleh
By that measure the Germans couldn't have invented the sloped armor of the panther tank without copying the T-34
That's different for reasons