Just Go, Reinvent the Wheel

It’s Been Done a Million Times Anyway

Photo by Jon Cartagena on Unsplash

Think about how children learn. They take apart things, break things, push things down from shelves, and rebuild things into nonsensical forms. Eventually, they manage to build something that makes sense. They sit down and can set up things on a computer without any education. How can they build and figure out things without any real guidance, manuals, or formal education? They try things. They push all the buttons and are not afraid to break the system. They learn through pushing the little buttons, and eventually, they can push the big buttons with confidence.

They reinvent the wheel day by day. They take in information and reiterate on it with how they understand the world and their circumstances. This is the most natural way to learn for humans, but as we grow up, we start to be confined in education systems and sayings like, “You shouldn’t reinvent the wheel.”

Why shouldn’t you? Is this an efficiency thing? You should create shareholder value from the get-go instead of reinventing things, I guess. The thing is, if you reinvented the wheel, you’d understand SO MUCH MORE than the wheel itself—materials, shape, form, usability, textures, diagrams, etc. These discoveries can be used when you are building the cart for your wheel. Why not start simple, or simpler? A cart is a multi-piece system, with wheels, the body, sideboards, a pulling bar, maybe a seat.

And anyway, someone, someday, has reinvented the wheel—and they still do it today. The old wooden wheels, the iron wheels that could be fixed with a roller, the aluminum wheels that broke, the carbon fiber or magnesium wheels that are superior in performance.

Those people working on the magnesium wheels went home every day from work and thought to themselves:
“What am I doing with my life, reinventing the wheel all the time? What a waste of life…“

If you check aluminum rims online, there are probably a million designs to choose from. They have all been reinvented, as different shapes require different materials and machining.

And what about wheels for electric cars designed to reduce drag? Those were invented too—by someone.

Okay. Enough about wheels. You get the point.

In my IT career, I often went havoc on systems and tried out everything without caring if I’d break them. I’d reinstall Windows every three months either way on my machine, so I didn’t fear messing up the registry. Who cares, really? Not many things are non-fixable on this scale. I don’t read manuals still; I push all buttons on whatever I buy. I reinvent the manual, I guess. IT testers actually thrive on this mindset, their work is trying to break things from as many angles as they can. Like childsplay!

The point is, please go and do reinvent the wheel. Unlikely you’ll find a better wheel, but you will understand the wheel and its parts, its history, its usability. And do take apart, analyze, and rebuild as much as you can. This is how you gain knowledge and understanding of larger systems.

Rebuilding is not only about physical or technical things. It’s about ideas, about society, about politics, about art—about everything. Do take them apart, analyze their parts, and try to rebuild. This is how we create better systems. Saying, "Do not reinvent the wheel," is like saying, "Do not try to create new pop art," or, "Do not try to start a political movement—there have already been many." Why not? Are we afraid of people understanding what complex systems entail, so maybe they could reinvent the bigger things?

We should reinvent things, systems, ourselves—all the time. Reinventing and recalibrating should be in the core of human life and progress.

What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts, for real.