[Gasification] OT, now, Boat pulls easier than Cart?

[Mark Ludlow]

Dear A.D. Karve:

Are you suggesting that it was the invention of "smooth roads" that spurred
the subsequent invention of the wheel?

The indigenous peoples of the American Great Plains were migratory and
dragged their possessions on high-friction sledges. The "Pioneers" of the
mid-19th Century had wheeled conveyances and followed "trails" not macadam.
Wagon Trains. The Spanish who conquered the great Inca empire had wheels, an
unthought-of notion to indigenous cultures over 10,000 years old.

Why didn't Nature provide hummingbirds with a rotary wing? Rolf gave a good
clue.

Best, Mark

Best, Mark


>> Dear List,
>> I am neither an engineer nor a physicist, but a biologist. I made the 
>> observation that nature did not evolve wheeled locomotion because a 
>> smooth road was a prerequisite for wheeled transport.  Even humans, 
>> who developed wheeled transport, use it only on roads or rails and 
>> not elsewhere. .
>> Yours
>> A.D.Karve