Name too narrow: Aliens Never Invented The Wheel

In short, I would like to suggest that this trope simply drop the "Aliens" from the title to allow humans from alternate universes to fit this trope.

Otherwise, if we made a new trope that covered alternate universes, say "Humans Never Invented The Wheel", then it would be the exact same trope, but with humans instead of aliens, which I would assume to be The Same But More Specific, or at the very least the same concept with different tropes for different species. That's not to say we can't just make a new human-centric trope, but I'd like to at least take this to you fine folks at the TRS first, just to see what you feel is the right thing to do.

Even without the first word, the name also implies a For Want Of A Nail thing, while the trope is more general.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.

Personally, I don't see why we can't just make a new trope for the human/alternate history version, and leave the current trope alone. I'm normally a lumper, but these seem like fairly distinct concepts.

Essentially, the trope is about how a society manages to advance, but are missing something that you'd think they'd have figured out. So even though I tend to like to split tropes, this one feels like something that applies to the society rather than the species.

edited 1st Jan '12 12:08:58 AM by nman

Humans from alternate universes are aliens of a sort. I don't see the point of renaming.

Add a broader name redirect. Seems close enough in meaning to me.

Fight smart, not fair.

What's the essential difference with Schizo Tech?

...And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense - R.W.Wood

Schizo Tech is about how the tech in a universe can appear like slapdash anachronisms randomly thrown in for the hell of it. Aliens Never Invented the Wheel is just about overlooking or never bothering to make something. For example, a story can take place where World War II never happened, and humankind never invented nuclear weapons, but go on to have AI and jetpacks.

Bump.

So should we just slightly tweak the description to allow "alternate universe humans" to count as "aliens" and call it a day, or are there any other propositions?

Yeah, I don't see why this can't cover both.

Hmm. But should it even be only about aliens or alternate universe humans?

E.g., I remember a joke in Discworld where one nation in that world invented all possible uses for the wheel... except, well, the obvious one. Those people were not aliens or alternate universe humans.

Or are such examples too rare to warrant broadening the trope's definition?

Strictly speaking, the word alien doesn't just mean "extraterrestrial". I think as long as it's pointed out in the description that "Humans" from alternate universes count that should be enough, Loophole Abuse or not.

Yeah, that sounds sufficient.

I didn't write any of that.

So, this is resolved?

Put me in motion, drink the potion, use the lotion, drain the ocean, cause commotion, fake devotion, entertain a notion, be Nova Scotian

I don't know, should we do a crowner or something?

I don't think any more action needs to be taken than what was already made.

Put me in motion, drink the potion, use the lotion, drain the ocean, cause commotion, fake devotion, entertain a notion, be Nova Scotian

Unless I missed it, the article's description hasn't been modified yet.

As far as I can tell, everyone in the thread is in support of just changing the description, so we don't need a crowner for that action.

I didn't write any of that.

I tweaked the description a bit and added the Humans Never Invented The Wheel redirect as Nman suggested. I definitely would appreciate some feedback on this though since my writing skills leave a lot to be desired.

edited 13th Jan '12 7:42:41 AM by LouieW

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

Looks good to me.

I think we're done here then.

I didn't write any of that.