Geography is the key, the crucial accident of birth. A piece of protein could be a snail, a sea lion, or a systems analyst, but it had to start somewhere. This is not science; it is merely metaphor. And the landscape in which the protein "starts" shapes its end as surely as bowls shape water.
Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters
geography, metaphor, science, sea-lion, snail, systems-analyst, water