History Main / AliensNeverInventedTheWheel

* One arc in Astonishing ''ComicBook/XMen'' covers a mysterious alien warrior trying to prevent an anonymous mutant from fulfilling a prophecy to destroy his wartorn home planet. War and destruction is so central to his home culture that they don't have a word for hospital, and the concept of a place of healing is so against their culture that the one medieval level hospital on the planet is shrouded in secrecy lest the planet's elders murder its patients.

-->'''Pajuna:''' "I guess San Lorenzo really ''was'' cut off from the outside world."

* The humans of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series didn't invent the transistor until the 2060s, just ten years before the War, so their advanced technology looks like it came out of a 1950's computer lab, despite having robots (regular and giant), nuclear-powered cars, energy weapons, and AI.

* In ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' there's the alien race mentioned which invented the aerosol deodorant before the wheel, so at least for some time, they'd fit this trope. In their case, it's [[RuleOfFunny amusingly]] {{justified|trope}}, since they're a species with fifty arms, so dealing with armpit stink would take fist priority for their culture.

* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' novels:

* Much of sub-Saharan Africa also lacked wheels and writing used to record historical events prior to European colonization.
* The hunter-gatherers of Australia were still using very simple technology and had only very limited agriculture (though they did have quite sophisticated ''horticulture'') when the Europeans arrived on the continent. They weren't even using bows and arrows. The isolation of the Australian continent compared to Eurasia or even the Americas played a big role in that.

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} and ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' crossover ''FanFic/TheManyWorldsInterpretation'', by Creator/AAPessimal, the Caltech gang are consternated to arrive in Ankh-Morpork and to discover the Discworld has not evolved two of the staples of life in the United States: guns and internal combustion engines. The most advanced projectile weapon is a repeating crossbow, and steam power has only just been devised. however, this doesn't mean the city is not a very violent and dangerous place...

* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' has the same case of an alien world which apparently didn't have glass, so a box of marbles is enough as an apology after being abused.

* ''Literature/TheWitling'' {{Justifie|d}}s this trope with numerous basic innovations, as having PsychicPowers meant such things never needed to be invented. Notably, very few buildings have ''doors'', because the Azhiri just teleport everywhere, including in and out of buildings. They also lack basic plumbing, and actually don't seem to have invented the wheel--because of their reliance on water for transport, they travel long distances using "road boats" via artificial transit lakes. No one seems to carry weapons, either--who needs them, when you can just scramble your enemies' brains at a distance?

* ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'': The world of Argent D'Nur is highly advanced with LaserBlade and plasma weaponry, interstellar travel, and mechas. However, they never developed gunpowder-based firearms, as when Doomguy arrived there, they were confused by his guns, calling them "of arcane origin". This is because the Argenta were a medieval civilization that was uplifted by a group of {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s, and so went straight from the Iron Age to an spacefaring empire with no intermediate steps.

* The monsters of ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'', despite matching or outstripping humans in intelligence, never invented ''anything''. While this may seem like a weakness, this is because their sheer physical power, arsenal of deadly abilities, low-level biological forcefield, and natural FTL capabilities made any technological innovation pointless. This point is backed up by how they picked a fight with humans, despite the massive technological gap, and still haven't needed anything to make up for the disadvantage. In fact, they're actually ''winning''.

** Once the Moties learn what shield generators are from encountering [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum one on a single human spaceship]], they rapidly develop shields that are far better than that.

* In ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'', Cortana discovers from analyzing Covenant computers that, having developed most of their advanced technology by copying Forerunner artifacts, the Covenant races appear to have never mastered what 26th century humanity considers higher mathematics. She's able to apply math and science ''she'' knows to extract significantly higher performance out of the gear on a captured Covenant cruiser.

This trope can be used to pull {{Aesop}}s in demonstrating how humanity wouldn't be human without love, music, sports etc. or, on the other hand, how humanity could do well without war, money, soap operas or what have you. In keeping with that, there are two ways of playing this trope: either the aliens are stumped by an Earth invention or the humans are surprised to find out that the the aliens don't have it. Sometimes the author might just be complaining about [[AuthorTract stuff he doesn't like or finds frivolous]] by showing HumansThroughAlienEyes. Other times, it's just a throw-away gag. And finally, just to be clear, this trope ''doesn't'' automatically make the aliens [[InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien weak]].

* Creator/CliffordDSimak's story "The Big Front Yard" has aliens who never invented paint.

-->--''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1''

* A literal version of this trope is Spielberg's ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'', where the aliens are shown in the basement of a house, quizzically playing with the wheel of a bike, in an homage to the original novel. They're also touching and even ''licking'' everything. It would appear they also have no concept of germs which, like with all other versions of the book, ends up being their downfall.

* ''LightNovel/TheIdealSpongerLife'': The fantasy world never invented glass, so they are fascinated by the glass objects Zenjirou brought.

-->--''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''

* One Audioplay/BigFinishDoctorWho audio play puts Tegan in the awkward position of having to explain what toothpaste is. To a [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Time Lord]].

[[folder:Fanfic]]

* In ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' it is hinted that the tripod-using Aliens skipped the invention of the wheel; none were found in captured machines and most had ludicrously complicated lever systems where a few gears would have done the job just as well. There's an odd variation on the trope regarding disease - it's described that their own hygienic procedures were so successful that they've effectively forgotten what pathogens ''are'', so have no defense against them.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': The Asgard, who are ridiculously far ahead of humans, have to enlist the Earthlings' help to fight the Replicators, against whom Asgard beam weaponry is useless, but [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter guns work wonders]]. Thor mentions that the thought of using chemical propellants to fire a slug of blunt lead simply never occurred to them. Presumably, they hadn't used propellant weapons in several million years and didn't think of using them. There's also the fact that all Asgard are clones whose consciousnesses have been around for thousands of years. This tends to lead to some rigidness in views, although they're still damn good scientists. Why the railgun[[note]]The main armament on the Earth-human starships built with a combination of stolen Goa'uld technology and technology given by the Asgard and Tok'ra. This is real technology under development by the U.S. military since at least the late 1990s, being a gun where the ammunition is propelled not by a chemical charge but by a linear electric motor. The implication on the show is that the technology is the same as has been developed by Lockheed over the last decades, but with space materials resolving some of the problems, like wear and tear on the rails.[[/note]] wasn't invented isn't discussed on-screen.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': The Asgard, who are ridiculously far ahead of humans, have to enlist the Earthlings' help to fight the Replicators, against whom Asgard beam weaponry is useless, but [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter guns work wonders]]. Thor mentions that the thought of using chemical propellants to fire a slug of blunt lead simply never occurred to them. Presumably, they hadn't used propellant weapons in several million years and didn't think of using them. There's also the fact that all Asgard are clones whose consciousnesses have been around for thousands of years. This tends to lead to some rigidness in views, although they're still damn good scientists. Why the railgun wasn't invented isn't discussed on-screen.

** Only the Mesoamerican civilizations developed writing, starting with the Toltecs and continuing on with the Maya and other successor civilizations (which may or may not include the Aztecs depending on who you ask and what your definition of "writing" is).[[note]]Whether the Aztec "script" was an unusually systematic system of mnemonic pictograms or a true nascent logographic/logosyllabic script is very hard to tell based on the surviving material. Basically, the Spanish showed up almost ''exactly'' at the point the Aztec system was developed enough to arguably be writing and not a moment later. It's possible if not likely that the issue would be much more clear-cut had the Spanish come a century or two sooner or later.[[/note]] The Inca did develop a system for keeping numeric records in the form of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu knotted strings]], while others used [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wampum colored beads]] as a mnemonic device, but most never had a written language until well after European colonization.

** Likewise, metallurgy was much less developed in the Americas than in the Old World. While both the Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations made extensive use of precious metals--particularly gold and copper--for decoration, practical/industrial use of metal was quite limited. Native copper was used to make tools in both regions, and indeed elsewhere in the Americas (the peoples of the Great Lakes region are known to have mined copper for tools from the rich veins of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), but because native copper is relatively rare these tools were never especially widespread. The Andean peoples had started to develop bronze metallurgy by the time the Spanish showed up, but the technology was in its infancy. Mesoamerica never had it at all except for a tiny region of western Mexico outside the orbit of the major civilizations in the region; the Aztecs and Mayans were using stone tools right up until Cortés arrived. Iron metallurgy never shows up in the Americas at all before contact with Europeans. This contrasts strongly with the Old World, where even the nomadic pastoralists tended to keep up with the latest in metal technology (the Mongol, Bedouin, and Bantu pastoralists all had blacksmiths).[[note]]To be fair, the Bedouin and Bantu nomads had settled cousins who they traded with for the iron in a cows-for-metal deal, and the Mongols generally either traded with their neighbors (usually the Chinese, but sometimes the Central Asian Persians and Uighurs) or pillaged it from them in raids. But they did have their own artisans who could work the iron into what they needed.[[/note]]

** Likewise, metallurgy was much less developed in the Americas than in the Old World. While both the Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations made extensive use of precious metals--particularly gold and copper--for decoration, practical/industrial use of metal was quite limited. Native copper was used to make tools in both regions, and indeed elsewhere in the Americas (the peoples of the Great Lakes region are known to have mined copper for tools from the rich veins of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), but because native copper is relatively rare these tools were never especially widespread. The Andean peoples had started to develop bronze metallurgy by the time the Spanish showed up, but the technology was in its infancy. Mesoamerica never had it at all except for a tiny region of western Mexico outside the orbit of the major civilizations in the region; the Aztecs and Mayans were using stone tools right up until Cortés arrived. Iron metallurgy never shows up in the Americas at all before contact with Europeans. This contrasts strongly with the Old World, where even the nomadic pastoralists tended to keep up with the latest in metal technology (the Mongols, Bedouins, and Bantus all had blacksmiths).

** Likewise, metallurgy was much less developed in the Americas than in the Old World. While both the Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations made extensive use of precious metals--particularly gold and copper--for decoration, practical/industrial use of metal was quite limited. Native copper was used to make tools in both regions, and indeed elsewhere in the Americas (the peoples of the Great Lakes region are known to have mined copper for tools in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), but because native copper is relatively rare these tools were never especially widespread. The Andean peoples had started to develop bronze metallurgy by the time the Spanish showed up, but the technology was in its infancy. Mesoamerica never had it at all except for a tiny region of western Mexico outside the orbit of the major civilizations in the region; the Aztecs and Mayans were using stone tools right up until Cortés arrived. Iron metallurgy never shows up in the Americas at all before contact with Europeans. This contrasts strongly with the Old World, where even the nomadic pastoralists tended to keep up with the latest in metal technology (the Mongols, Bedouins, and Bantus all had blacksmiths).

** Likewise, only the South Americans developed advanced metallurgy; the various Central American civilizations did not have bronze-working and used metal only for decoration. Even in South America, the use of bronze tools was only just becoming common when the Europeans arrived.
** Only the Central American civilizations developed writing, starting with the Toltecs and continuing on with the Maya and other successor civilizations (which may or may not include the Aztecs depending on who you ask and what your definition of "writing" is).[[note]]Whether the Aztec "script" was an unusually systematic system of mnemonic pictograms or a true nascent logographic/logosyllabic script is very hard to tell based on the surviving material. Basically, the Spanish showed up almost ''exactly'' at the point the Aztec system was developed enough to arguably be writing and not a moment later. It's possible if not likely that the issue would be much more clear-cut had the Spanish come a century or two sooner or later.[[/note]] The Inca did develop a system for keeping numeric records in the form of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu knotted strings]], while others used [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wampum colored beads]] as a mnemonic device, but most never had a written language until well after European colonization.

* The hunter-gatherers of Australia were still using very simple technology and had only very limited agriculture when the Europeans discovered the continent. They weren't even using bows and arrows.