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The Cog That Turned - Ep 09
53 Plays14 days ago
In this episode George once again employs his imagination and tells the fictional story of a neurodivergent copper age miner who’s frustration with the inefficiency of traditional transportation of heavy loads leads to the invention of one of the most useful ancient innovations; the wheel.
Transcripts
- For rough transcripts of this episode, go to: https://www.archpodnet.com/adhdbce/09
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Transcript
Introduction to Neurodiversity and Inventions
00:00:01
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome everyone to episode nine. And in this episode, I'm going to be shining the light of neurodiversity. it simply has to be explored. Ancient inventions.
00:00:29
Speaker
As we know, neurodivergent people are fantastic at focusing on anything other than the thing. thing being you're supposed to doing, the normal thing, the everything, you know, the thing.
00:00:43
Speaker
And this is because, well, usually because we don't get much, if any, dopamine out of the thing, out of doing the thing. since the first time we've encountered it or there's, I don't know, some highly real rewarding thing that's been added to the thing.
00:01:01
Speaker
And so what we do tend to do in this is drift off into daydreams or thinking about something else entirely or doing
ADHD and Inventive Outcomes
00:01:11
Speaker
something else. And as this podcast is trying to highlight, this sort of neurodivergent trait is nothing new ah Now, if well most, if not all, neurodivergent people listening to this will attest that being highly distractible can be embarrassing, unhelpful, and leave us wracked with guilt and shame. However, this is a positive podcast, and I want to show how the distractible nature of ADHD can lead to very, very good things, and
00:01:44
Speaker
So once upon a time there was no sliced bread until someone thought of it. There was once no umbrellas or internet or anything else until someone invented the obvious.
Tovey's Story: The Birth of the Wheel
00:01:56
Speaker
So today we're going to go back in time to meet a fictional neurodivergent mind worker whose neurological differences helped create one of the most useful inventions we take for granted today.
00:02:11
Speaker
So here is The Cog That Turned, her story from 3900 BCE, somewhere in the Copalian Mountains. Tovey was tired of moving logs.
00:02:24
Speaker
Tovey was tired in general, tired of doing the same thing over and over, tired of some of the workers and their ability to simply do what was expected of them, Tired of how easily everyone seemed to go through life without wanting to tear the sky in half and jump through to whatever waited on the other side.
00:02:42
Speaker
It was probably logs and stone that needed to be moved by logs that needed moving so that the other moving could be moved. Every day in the mine, it was the same.
00:02:55
Speaker
Dig, haul and worst of all, roll heavy stones on wooden logs to transport them down the valley. The logs had to be lifted, dragged and repositioned constantly.
00:03:08
Speaker
By the time the stones reached their destination, Tovey's arms ached, his back burned and he was sick of the whole process. Stop complaining and move the logs, his uncle barked, heaving a massive stone onto the rollers.
00:03:21
Speaker
Tovey knew his uncle hated it too. He had just convinced himself that he was like everyone else and saw the merit in slogging it out until death. Tovey bit his tongue and obeyed.
00:03:32
Speaker
He knew better than to argue. But the frustration festered in his mind, bubbling beneath his thoughts. There had to be ah better way. That night, as he lay in his family's hut, wide awake and racing through the universe behind his eyes, as the idea struck him.
00:03:51
Speaker
The logs worked because they rolled. That was the whole point. It worked, so no one questioned it. But why do they have to keep lifting them, dragging them forward and setting them down again?
00:04:05
Speaker
What if the logs were attached to the load? What if they never had to be moved at all? Tovey sat up, heart pounding.
00:04:16
Speaker
If the logs were smaller, just on the ends, just the part that actually rolled and fixed to the sled... He leapt to his feet, my mind racing.
00:04:29
Speaker
The next day, while the others were busy in the mine, Tovey found a broken sled and dragged it behind a hut. He gathered his tools, stone axes, flint knives, and set to work.
00:04:42
Speaker
He had a thick branch, cutting into sections, smoothed the discs as round as he could make them. He used broadside to lash them to either side of the wooden axle, securing it beneath the sled.
00:04:56
Speaker
Then he pushed. The sled didn't drag. It rolled, and he didn't have to move a single log. Tovey let out a triumphant whoop. His uncle didn't believe him at first, neither did the other miners, but when Tovey demonstrated, their scepticism turned to astonishment.
00:05:15
Speaker
With this new contraption, a single worker could move a load that would normally take three workers. The next day, the miners were already copying his design, and Tovey...
00:05:26
Speaker
For the first time in his life, he wasn't just the boy who forgot things or got lost in his thoughts. He was the boy who made his life easier for everyone.
Theories on the Wheel's Invention
00:05:36
Speaker
So in in that story, Tovey, the neurodivergent copper miner, is accredited with inventing the wheel, which I, based on archaeological evidence and the idea that someone had to invent the bloody thing somehow, and for some good reason.
00:05:54
Speaker
ah There are appropriately loads of examples of wheels, including wagons and pottery wheels from the yeah Copper Age, ah so between 5000 and across europe Asia and North Africa, I think.
00:06:12
Speaker
But I think Tovey or whoever it was predates these examples by but good few hundred years, if not if not more. So for the archaeological record, that's why i went for the origins of the wheel in a scenario based on logs that they were lugging loads of rocks around. um I don't actually know if they used log rollers in the copper mines, but...
00:06:36
Speaker
It's the best in perspiration I could come up with. And i did think that and there's still all those theories of moving the megaliths in the Neolithic using log rollers. So, yeah, kind I kind of went with that.
00:06:48
Speaker
But, yeah, who knows how the wheel was was first imagined or if it was based on knowledge or or pure imagination. But it's likely that whoever came up with the idea was probably sick of moving stones and copper around in Toby's case.
00:07:06
Speaker
And of course, there are other theories, aside from the Carpathian copper miners, but yes, well, there's, don't know, the wheel. mean, it may already have existed for some time before the Copper Age, and the evidence is now lost, or lost forever.
00:07:23
Speaker
There are certainly theories that the wheel originated in Mesopotamia or Turkey, But nothing think it's fair to say that multiple inventions are also a possibility rather than a singular invention that spread. But ideas do spread very quickly.
00:07:39
Speaker
Certainly the designs differ. For example, the wheels in Tovey's story were disc-like. That's what the archaeological evidence is. and But the oldest wooden wheel, as we'd recognise, as they'd got an axle and so on. They had dates from slightly later, around circa 2200 BCE.
00:08:04
Speaker
bc And that was found in Slovenia, which is not a million miles away. and so So maybe that's just the evolution of the design that we can see or maybe separate things altogether.
00:08:17
Speaker
Who knows yet? But to hopefully we'll dig up some conclusive evidence information.
Neurodivergent Strengths in Innovation
00:08:23
Speaker
We're just going to have to go round and round in a circular argument until the wheels fall off or we reach a final destination.
00:08:32
Speaker
ah Sorry. Not sorry. Anyway, let's imagine Tovey's story is the most accurate theory we have. And more importantly, let's have a look at a few typical neurodivergent traits on display in the story.
00:08:48
Speaker
So I think some key traits that he displays, um frustration with inefficiency. i know where many, many neurodivergent people feel a deep need to optimize tasks.
00:09:03
Speaker
So in this case, Toby's frustration leads him to seek a better solution. And I think neurodivergence, we're very good at that sort of thing. you know We don't want to do the same thing over and over, especially if we we we we get bored of it quicker. you know Not producing dopamine is...
00:09:20
Speaker
catalyst for for change. i know we would rather do anything than do the same thing over and over. And if we can think of something better or try and change things, that in itself is is inspiration for for progress and invention.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's just one thing. I mean, the other thing is pattern recognition. he Tove, in this case, connects the rolling motions of logs to the idea of a permanent wheel.
00:09:45
Speaker
it it gave To us, in hindsight, it's a logical progression. It's just a simple evolution from... rolling logs to a fixed axle that rolls, but somebody had to come up with it and somebody needed a reason why.
00:09:59
Speaker
So maybe this story that Toby's shown it is a close representation of something that may actually have happened. Yeah, the other thing is innovation and problem solving.
00:10:12
Speaker
So instead of just working harder, he works smarter, which is... you know, music to a capitalist 3,900 years. and it's...
00:10:28
Speaker
yeah it would and i think innovation and problem solving i've sort of already spoken about that now but i think it's It can go either way. It's not necessarily a good thing when it goes wrong or distracts things or makes things worse, but maybe the invention of the wheel is an example of a neurodivergent strength. Who knows?
00:10:53
Speaker
ah The other thing is in it now on and in this story was hyper-focus. You know, it's how many neurodivergents listen to this have been stuck in bed at night, frustrated and down and exhausted and shut. And then all of a sudden you get this notion. you It doesn't quite pop up as a full idea, but you just know there's something better.
00:11:17
Speaker
And it's probably partly with a pattern recognition coming into this, but you you know there's something there and you can't figure it out. And you stick there. you You don't let it go. You don't look at the problem and think, oh, well, that's that. I don't know what's going on. I don't know how to solve this.
00:11:33
Speaker
your brain won't let it go. you hyper-focus on it, you stay with it, and eventually you get somewhere. So, yeah, hyper-focus isn't always healthy thing, and then it can be a sign of a dysregulated nervous system as well. But I think even Tove's case, he's he's displaying that. It's he's he's incredibly common in neurodivergence.
00:11:55
Speaker
So even even all the way back then, When we go, we talk about in the past was neurodiversity such a pain in the backside as it has been for many of us in in the last sort of 100 years or two.
00:12:12
Speaker
may be, I think, in certain situations, yeah, I think is that wiring is there, the the lack of dopamine, there the distractibility, all those symptoms are there. And in something, you know, not all...
00:12:27
Speaker
all tasks where, mean, most of them are outside, let's be honest, but they might not, you know, if if it's repetition, repetition, repetition, doing it all the time, there's a good chance that neurodivergent people suffered with mental health issues and dysregulated nervous systems. You know, I think that was one of the points of the podcast really is to, we are looking for the positives, but equally we we have to recognize that there is always a possibility that it was just as tough in different environments as well.
Neurodivergence: A Catalyst for Progress
00:12:59
Speaker
But yeah, i think Toby's story shows how neurodivergent thinking has always been there and has been a driving force in human progress. I think more so than neurotypicals,
00:13:17
Speaker
neurodivergents are wired to make mistakes, to think differently and seek alternatives and make change. So I think we can see it as a positive.
00:13:30
Speaker
But yeah, and this is probably going to be quite a short episode today. So yeah, I think it that's kind of it really. I think, although we can we can never go back and diagnose the the true inventor of the wheel, I do think that Inventions of Simple Genius is a good place to look for neurodiversity in the archaeological record.
00:13:51
Speaker
I don't know you feel about that. love to hear your thoughts. So to please do get in touch on on Instagram, which is still the only social media i account I've got. I will get around to sorting that side of things out. Promise, promise.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah, thank you very much for listening. And yeah, i'd look forward to seeing you next time. Thanks. Bye-bye.
Credits and Further Resources
00:14:20
Speaker
The Archaeology Podcast Network is 10 years old this year. Our executive producer is Ashley Airey. Our social media coordinator is Matilda Sebrecht. And our chief editor is Rachel Roden. The Archaeology Podcast Network was co-founded by Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle in 2014 and is part of Cultural Media and DigTech LLC. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network.
00:14:41
Speaker
Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chris at archaeologypodcastnetwork.com.