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06856_Field_TCUM T421.txt
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1996-04-10
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more purposes. Men turned their powers to changing the forms
of things by cultivation. Change to special production in local
areas created the need for exchange and for transport. For this
purpose sledges were used in Northern Europe before 5000
B.C., and human porters and pack-bearing animals preceded
sledges naturally. The wheel under the sledge was an
accelerator of feet, not of hand. With this acceleration of the
feet came the need for road, just as with the extension of our
backsides in the form of chair, came the need for table. The
wheel is an ablative absolute of feet, as chair is the ablative
absolute of backside. But when such ablatives intrude, they
alter the syntax of society. There is no ceteris paribus in the
world of media and technology. Every extension or acceleration
effects new configurations in the over-all situation at once.
The wheel made the road, and moved produce faster from