Chloe Mackay
In 2015, the viral phenomenon of ‘the dress’ ignited a global debate.
It would appear that history is repeating itself.
The internet has been divided since the debate on whether there are more wheels or doors in the world arose. This stir was brought about by Ryan Nixon, who took to twitter to inquire which of the two was more abundant in the world, to which 53.6% people voted for wheels and the remaining 46.4% voted for doors.
Since then, people have been pondering this simple question, picking sides and using any means possible to justify their answer. What makes this debate so interesting is how subjective it is.
In order to uncover the answer to this burning question, we must first provide definitions as to what wheels and doors actually are.
Wheel: a circular object that rotates around an axis
Door: a barrier that either hinges, slides, or revolves to open.
Now let’s consider some crucial statistics. Following the definitions provided before, an average car has 5 doors including the boot and 5 wheels including the steering wheel, leading these to cancel each other out. However, Lego, the number one tyre manufacturer in the world, produces a whopping 700 million tyres per year. Conversely, according to the Window and Door Manufacturers Association’s 2020 US Industry Market Study, the number of entry doors shipped annually went down by 5.6% from 2019 to 2020.
Now let’s take a look at some of the arguments presented by individuals on the internet:
“Who is voting doors??? There’s wheels on everything. I have wheels on my garment rack, makeup storage holder, rubbish bin. It’s definitely wheels.”
- Lily Franklin (@lilyffranklin13) March 5th, 2022
“Doors.
Four door cars and trucks nullify themselves.
All buildings have doors, not wheels.
Doors”
- Justin Hubert (@JustinHubert) March 6th, 2022
The debate has even gone so far as to have a professor from Michigan Institute of Technology add his two cents. Professor Carlo Ratti stated that “there are many ways to look at this”, following with his gut feeling that there are more doors in the world than wheels.
But what is the stance of the Loreto Normanhurst community?
Mr Scali was quick to assert that “there’d be more wheels”, with Ms Conn also backing “wheels”. Mr Chesterman sided with team wheels and highlighted that it’s “not even close”. On the other hand, Mr McGee and Arabella Ahearn of Year 12 were perplexed by this question, stating it’s “a wheely difficult question” and “that’s a doory difficult question” respectively.
From these samples, it would appear that those in the Loreto community are more inclined to believe that there are more wheels than doors in the world.
However, due to the lack of a definitive answer and incredibly low stakes, it would appear that this debate is endless and inherently undefinable. Yet, it is incredibly interesting how a single question can both unite and divide the internet.
Let us know what you think in the comments below!
