Reinventing the wheel did not happen over night. In fact, it took over 2,000 years for human civilization to build on the original potter's wheel and turn it in

Reinventing the wheel did not happen over night. In fact, it took over 2,000 years for human civilization to build on the original potter's wheel and turn it into to the spoked wheel[1]. Innovation takes time, and therefore reinventing something does as well. I agree that we should constantly be trying to reinvent the technologies we currently have to make them even better, but I'm not sure if the analogy you used is the best one for this argument. However, it does remind us that innovation takes time and that we should not expect to fully reinvent something in our lifetime. Instead, we should accept the fact that we will be one of many to contribute to innovation. We can keep the big picture in mind, but we can't let it consume ourselves. [1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel#History