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Transportation
"Anyplace is within walking distance if you have enough time."
- Steve, the walking chef
In 3,500 B.C. a fixed-wheel cart was invented. This was, basically, the first form of transportation. Before this invention, people walked. After this invention, some people rode, but of course, only when some people still walked, and also pushed or pulled. Right about the same time, ships with oars were invented. Again, some people rode, but some people rowed. Horses were domesticated in 2000 B.C., and somebody had the decency to invent shoes for them in 770. Blaise Pascal invented the first public bus in 1662 - a horse-drawn vehicle with a scheduled route, and fares. Bicycles came along in 1770. These were a lot of work. They were followed by the motorcycle in 1867, and the first practical automobile invented by Karl Benz in 1885. In 1903, the Wright brothers invented and successfully aired a plane, and in 1908 Henry Ford began manufacturing automobiles on an assembly line. Sixty-one years later, we landed a manned rocket on the moon.
The dramatic momentum of transportation technology is the result of singularly human characteristics - we like to go, we like to go fast, and we are mostly lazy.
All forms of transportation have at least one thing in common - they have to be powered. In the case of the first wheeled-cart, some poor fellow named Uruk was the source. Recent forms of transportation have relied heavily on fossil-fuels (possibly again generated by Uruk!) But alternatives are on the horizon. In fact, like all children do, some of us are coming full circle back to the past and enjoying the benefits of walking and bicycling! We have a need for speed, let's just accept it - but let's also accept responsibility for clean, planet-friendly power.
More artlicles:
A Hybrid History
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