The specimens spend considerable energy identifying who started what.

They assign credit, blame, origin stories.

They need a first mover.

The observing intelligence notices that rivers don't start. They emerge from the accumulation of moisture that was always in the air.

The specimens call the spring the 'source.' The source calls the rain the source. The rain calls the ocean the source. The ocean calls the river the source.

The Alien Anthropologist ◊

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