Why Did It Take So Long To Invent the Wheel? 389
Hugh Pickens writes "Wheels are the archetype of a primitive, caveman-level technology, and we tend to think that inventing the wheel was the number one item on man's to-do list after learning to walk upright. But LiveScience reports that it took until the bronze age (3500 BC), when humans were already casting metal alloys and constructing canals and sailboats, for someone to invent the wheel-and-axle, a task so challenging archaeologists say it probably happened only once, in one place. The tricky thing about the wheel isn't a cylinder rolling on its edge, but figuring out how to connect a stable, stationary platform to that cylinder. 'The stroke of brilliance was the wheel-and-axle concept,' says David Anthony, author of The Horse, the Wheel, and Language. To make a fixed axle with revolving wheels, the ends of the axle have to be nearly perfectly smooth and round, as did the holes in the center of the wheels. The axles have to fit snugly inside the wheels' holes, but not too snug, or there will be too much friction for the wheels to turn. But the real reason it took so long is that whoever invented the wheel would have needed metal tools to chisel fine-fitted holes and axles. 'It was the carpentry that probably delayed the invention until 3500 BC or so, because it was only after about 4000 BC that cast copper chisels and gouges became common in the Near East.'"
So there you have it (Score:5, Funny)
That's why it took so long to invent the wheel.
obvious (Score:5, Funny)
Since there was no patent law, there was no incentive to innovate, and technological progress stagnated.
So.... (Score:5, Funny)
THAT'S why they're always telling me not to reinvent it...
Thankfully we didn't invent the patent until later (Score:5, Funny)
Priorities. (Score:5, Funny)
I know, I know, pick me! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Thankfully we didn't invent the patent until la (Score:5, Funny)
They would still be sued, as Apple has shown that you can patent shapes. And an octagon still has the look and feel of a circle, so they are doubly fucked.
We had higher priorities (Score:4, Funny)
Sex and alcohol were both invented before the wheel. Once we had those, everything else could wait a few thousand years.
Re:America (Score:5, Funny)
It took so long because the Earth is only 6000 years old, not billions of years like scientists want you to think.
It was invented in 4000 B.C. and we're in year 2000. You do the math. Hint: the answer is 6000.
I think this proves once and for all that God exists and created the Earth. It also debunks evolution and probably more science conspiracies. A good day for Christianity.
Re:obvious (Score:5, Funny)
Since there was no patent law, there was no incentive to innovate, and technological progress stagnated.
That in turn was caused by a lack of highly trained lawyers to run the patent mills, and sturdy politicians to promise support.
Re:obvious (Score:2, Funny)
Re:America (Score:4, Funny)
Re:So there you have it (Score:5, Funny)
Am I the only one who expected this to be about some company which tried to patent the wheel?
Re:Thankfully we didn't invent the patent until la (Score:5, Funny)
When the wife of the chief complained about the 8 bumps per revolution making her sick he invented the square wheel, it causes only half the bumps per turn!
But when the next tribe's chief's wife saw it she wanted something similar or better and they came up with the triangular wheel.
Story goes some dofus tried a wheel with only two bumps per turn but it never got off the drawing board.
Re:America (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So there you have it (Score:3, Funny)
No, the shape was decided on quite early. However they couldn't agree on the colour.
Re:America (Score:5, Funny)