Today's newspaper carried an article about the cost and scarcity of a wheel. It wasn't just any wheel. It was 12 feet tall and 4 feet wide and cost $ 40,000 EACH. It's fitted to those giant dump trucks that handle 400 ton hauls. Open-pit mining companies are thr primary users. The demand for natural rsources has exploded with population growth times the exponential of consumerism. As the price goes higher for coal, zinc, copper, etc the holes in the ground go lower and wider in their extraction.
Have we gone as far as we can go in the evolution of the wheel with this monster wheel? And by implication, is man's evolutionary journey and impact reaching the natural limits of our earth and will soon stagnate and/or retreat? Who first made use of the wheel? Archeologists found the artifacts of wheels in ancient Mesopotamia that dated back to over 5500 years ago. Mesopotamia is modern day Iraq. What a coincidence. So now the descendents of the " cradle of civilization" are back waging war that threatens all civilization. Are the tools of the frivolous primate not appropriate ? What a difference from the small discreet foot prints of our ancestors over 200,000 years ago in Africa and the the wheel print of the vehicle the descendents use today.
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