There has been so much talk recently on the inefficiencies of automotive travel, but very little has been said about the most conventional mode of transportation, walking. Walking makes very little sense if you think about it. One is required to stand, which places a person at risk of falling. It requires rearing of ourselves up onto legs, so as to appear unneccesarily confrontational. And walking is not at least as fun as rolling which has interesting design implications.
If people chose the sensible option and decided to roll efficiently along the ground architecture would have to be changed. Long curving ramps would replace stairs, and smaller versions would softly guide us up onto furnishings. Hallways and doorways would have to be twice as wide to accomodate the full lengths of two sideways rolling people. However, people would develop customs for rolling over eachother. Although spaces would have to be wider, cielings could be much lower, potentially doubling the number of floors.-- rcarty, Sep 07 2012 Human stride http://www.youtube....watch?v=pFEd_IR_SjEOn the back swing elasticity and gravity contribute. [Voice, Sep 08 2012] We really are amazing machines. http://www.youtube....watch?v=jkPgfGp2NwU [Voice, Sep 08 2012] Shrooms http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0492486/Be warned. Definitely not a health food. [8th of 7, Sep 08 2012] Obviously people would wear shoe like materials for clothes.-- rcarty, Sep 08 2012 Walking is the most efficient way for a human to travel.-- DIYMatt, Sep 08 2012 I doubt that. I can roll just as fast as someone can walk, and it doesn't take nearly as much energy. To walk the entire body must be made erect needlessly. When rolling on the ground the body requires no additional energy than that required for propulsion.-- rcarty, Sep 08 2012 Good point.... Iddy up!.... ROLL Roll roll your butt....-- Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 08 2012 Redesign the Zorb into a cylinder and I'm in.-- Phrontistery, Sep 08 2012 All told, walking seems like a terrible compromise. When you think how much faster animals move on all fours or even underwater, not to mention free-climbing. I have trouble rolling up hills and trees, but that's probably just maladaptation.-- 4and20, Sep 08 2012 Isn't there a spider that does this?-- leinypoo13, Sep 08 2012 Human tumbleweed … how very apt.-- 8th of 7, Sep 08 2012 Not really an invention. [-]-- sqeaketh the wheel, Sep 08 2012 Since when does a HB idea have to be an invention?-- DIYMatt, Sep 08 2012 Rolling is more efficient if you're mostly round. People are not. Furthermore a person's natural stride is a kind of rolling. Following the curved motion of a pair of feet will illustrate the point.-- Voice, Sep 08 2012 What is rolling than just another orientation to our planet Earth. Before long the world would become designed for rolling, and the verticallity of the world would be restored through our changed perceptions. Gravity would become a sideways force, pulling us sideways into the wall of the planet. Our interior spaces would have to be redesigned, and the cieling would become a much more important feature. Think of how a chair would have to be redesigned with sloping ramps extending from the sides, curving up gradually to the back of the seat, where we would gradually roll up into a seated position.
Fools, think of how the human mind and perception can be enhanced by adaptation to rolling. Our sight and hearing would become panoramic, as our brains piece together 360 degrees of constant visual and auditory receptions. Rolling also puts us into sync with planetary bodies that in earlier times were thought to walk around the heavens.-- rcarty, Sep 08 2012 What about some form of Recaro-style bodyboard on castors inside a cylinder?-- Phrontistery, Sep 08 2012 // Rolling also puts us into sync with planetary bodies that in earlier times were thought to walk around the heavens. //
Ahhhhhh ...
It's Autumn, isn't it ? Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness ? And mushrooms ...
Look, when [bugston] says "Here, try some of THESE, they are AWESOME !" he is not referring either to their flavour or nutritional value. Many of these mycoproteins are quite toxic, even in small doses. Stop now, while you still can.
<link>-- 8th of 7, Sep 08 2012 Taking mushrooms or any other sort of psychoactive substance is never a rational decision, why would an appeal to rationality work? And appeal to fear too? We're talking hallucinations here.-- rcarty, Sep 08 2012 //Walking is the most efficient way for a human to travel.//
No, but I'm pretty sure rolling isn't either. The most efficient is cycling, especially with a single speed/fixie at low speeds (minimal drive losses, minimal air resistance). I've seen it estimated as about three times as efficient as walking.-- MechE, Sep 08 2012 We tried to calculate the efficiency of a Sedan Chair, but our HP-85 keeps throwing an "?DIVISION BY ZERO" error ...-- 8th of 7, Sep 08 2012 What if servants rolled beneath the sedan chair, the last one running to the front to continue its forward progression.-- rcarty, Sep 08 2012 [MaxwellBuchanan] might be able to give you an approximation, although his extensive domestic staff means that the "running to the front" bit is unnecessary for trips less than 50km.
If he wanted to leave the grounds of Buchanan Towers, some running might prove necessary; however observational evidence indicates that for the sake of expeditious transport, for journeys of intermediate length (for example, from one end to the other of the Lesser Third-Best Ballroom) the Pneumatic Monorail installed by the Eighteenth Duke is a popular choice.-- 8th of 7, Sep 08 2012 Shouldn’t it be “rolling on the ground”?-- pocmloc, Sep 09 2012 The intention is that most people will start rolling on the floors of their homes to begin with, and slowly build up to going out for a liesurely roll, rolling to the corner store, and ultimately rolling to work.-- rcarty, Sep 09 2012 //Shouldn't it be "rolling on the ground?"//
That is so totally unfair to High Rollers.-- Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 09 2012 Ooh, look at little Johnny dear! I do believe he is getting ready to roll.-- Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 09 2012 Beware, the government could well introduce a Roll Tax.-- Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 09 2012 Rolling on tacks is not advisable.-- rcarty, Sep 09 2012 How do you carry your messages home from the shop?-- pocmloc, Sep 09 2012 You don't. Carrying is too labourious, that's one of the reasons walking is being replaced by rolling. Whatever items you have will be rolled along with you. Everything can be contained in a long cylinder which will be pushed infront of you as you roll.-- rcarty, Sep 09 2012 How will marching bands play their instruments once they have become rolling bands?-- pocmloc, Sep 09 2012 Some traditional walking related activites will be preserved to pay homage to an earlier time. Things like marchhing bands and a childs first steps will still be commonplace but will only be temporary departures from the usual rolling.-- rcarty, Sep 09 2012 "Can't stop now. I am on a roll."-- Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 09 2012 Well, this has been quite a roller coaster of an idea.-- Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 09 2012 Rollin, rollin, rollin,though the streams are swollen,Keep them doggies rollin,Rawhide!-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 09 2012 // Rollin. rollin. rollin.// Shades of Rowdy Yates. "That's an oldie."-- Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 09 2012 One positive for the idea is that it will get rid of all the crawlers.-- Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 09 2012 Think of the comfortable theatre experience a rolling society could enjoy. The stage of course would have to be a fixture of the ceiling and all actors would appropriately have to be suspended from cables like puppets, although their movements needn't be involuntary, however they are actors afterall. The audience would roll into slots, each overlapping just enough so as to peer over eachother's heads. Alternatively the actors can roll around on the floor, and audience members can view the spectacle from holes in the ceiling like ceilng cat. In fact all spaces could be altered in this way so between floors ceiling cat like interactions would become the norm.-- rcarty, Sep 10 2012 random, halfbakery