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by HeyLaughingBoy 3094 days ago
Really? Try carving a wheel when all you have is rocks and a bunch of trees and no mathematical knowledge.

You need to know how to make sharp edges. Which rocks are suitable? How to keep them sharp?

You need to cut down a suitable tree.

You need to know which tree is even suitable.

You have to figure out that either the chunk of wood should rotate, or the sharp edge rotate around it.

You need to know how to make a center pivot, or spindle to turn the wheel. You need to know that you even need this!

After making the wheel, now you need to make axles and some kind of platform to make it useful.

Before doing all this, you first have to realize that you need a wheel!

There is a long list of basic knowledge needed to invent even the simplest things. Every invention builds on previous knowledge.

1 comments

What you describe is the difficulty to be creative. You need to try a lot of things and it takes time.

It's the same now than it was then.

What's changed is that, with the same creative power, as an individual, you could do more then.

You can carve a wheel alone in the wood. It's hard, but as a single individual with only natural resources, you can.

A kid in china, or a grandpa in west africa can do it.

To code a revolutionary AI today, you need a lot of per-requisites: electricity, computer, internet, access to knowledge, education and a looooooot of time to practice.

Even if you are the most creative person in the world, from all centuries included. You can't do it in the wood. You will not see somebody in Mali do it. A kid is unlikely to be able to do it.

Because being capable of creative the concept in your head is not enough. The stuff you could do with what anybody had at hand is gone.