[ledwix]

Creation ex nihilo seems impossible for any contingent being or source, seeing as how according to a naturalistic worldview, all we are is a conglomeration of our genetic properties and environmental inputs. Everything that is in the self ultimately comes from the outer world in this worldview, and so there is not really any true "originality" as much as there is just incidental random input from the our surroundings or brain states that hasn't yet been revealed to anyone else.

But if you believe in a separate, transcendent entity that resides within the self, then true originality can exist in theory. Really, though, ideas, like every other contingent entity, can't arise from nowhere...they have to be caused by something in our surroundings. Innovation certainly exists, but pure originality and creativity must always be borrowed, unless you are the arbiter of everything, like a god.