A Theory of Everything

You most likely are aware that, historically, ships precede trains, and trains precede cars. But, have you ever wondered at incongruity of the technological sequence?

Whether it is a ship with sails, or a ship with an engine, a ship is a much more complex technological phenomenon than a train. The mere fact that a large ship has to navigate itself with a very small rudder represents a much greater challenge than fitting of a train on tracks that already are well designed. Once tracks for a train are well designed, a train simply moves forwards or backwards, does not have to negotiate recalibration of its movement against forces of waves or wind.

Absent a rudder, regardless of presence of an engine, a ship simply will drift with waves or wind. Absent either of sails and oars, or an engine, a rudder’s capacity for guiding of a ship’s movements are compromised. In the combining of engines and windsails in racing yachts, technology admits functionalities of which windsails are capable that augment capabilities of engines.

The ship is a much more complicated technology to build than the train, yet ships precede trains in history.

Consider then the train and the car. Each of the train and the car run on combustion that transpires in an engine. If a train is not…