But Fred, in that case the issue is whether the use of computers can improve and revive the old method.

Since humans have to program the machines, the answer may well be "no" or "not by much." My point was that there doesn't seem to be anything theoretically new here.

Also, I doubt that Propp or Thompson would have insisted that a son or story was popular just *because* it originated in some specific place. But if that place could be identified and was far enough away in the days before trains, planes, and automobiles, that itself would be interest, if not fundamentally significant - as it might have seemed to an earlier generation.

It's much like etymology. Does it matter to us today that the word "fool" (a frequent example) derives from a Latin word for "bellows"?

Presumably not, except as a point of interest. The value of computerized tracing of traditions will have to stand or fall on the quality and interest of the work.