The Wheel
“I’m starting to worry about you, Jacob,” she says, one hand resting on his shoulder.
“Worry? Worry?!” He speaks through gritted teeth. “You should be excited. You should support me.”
“We’re not going to do this again,” she says. “This is the seventh time.”
“And every time I get a little bit closer. I swear, I promise, I…” he looks into the fire.
“I am going to talk to the mayor about this.”
The day was long; he does not reply, as he has already fallen asleep.
—three weeks later—
“And for the topic of the day,” says the mayor, to furious applause, “Jacob’s work.”
“Burn it! Burn it! Burn it!” comes the choir of voices. Jacob looks on, wincing.
“Today I hereby declare that it is done,” the mayor roars as he heaves the device into the fire.
Jacob is crying now.
“Say it with me, folks,” declares the mayor. “We are Done. Reinventing. The. Wheel!”
The crowd erupts.
—two hundred years later—
I sometimes wonder whether we should have stopped reinventing the wheel. I mean, the wheel, sure, I guess it’s possible we’ve peaked there. Though I wouldn’t bet my life on it. I’m more interested in the phrase. The idea that we should look down on people who “reinvent the wheel.” Who try to “fix something that isn’t broken.” Sometimes, you don’t know something is broken until it’s fixed.
What about pillows on airplanes? Umbrellas? Chairs? Phones? Cars? Food? Bedsheets? Shoes? Who is reinventing the wheel and other wheel-like things? Email us about them, if you know of any. [0]
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[0] The cultural mythology surrounding technology startups would suggest that tech startups are the ones reinventing wheels all of the time. But if you spend any time in the industry, you know it is far more common to come across slightly better wheels than it is to come across new wheels. I want more new wheels. Wheels that are not wheels. Who is building those?
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