I believe that one day we will truly reinvent the wheel. Probably we will call it supersonic balancer or something like that, but everyone will knew that those shiny little boxes are actually wheels.
Like we know those iPhones are actually tiny supercomputers which Steve Jobs will use to conquer the world. Think about it! He had just started his evil plan by costing conventional countries millions by making their wage slaves show up late. Two words: EVIL GENIUS.
Reinventing the wheel did not happen over night. In fact, it took over 2,000 years for human civilization to build on the original potter's wheel and turn it into to the spoked wheel[1]. Innovation takes time, and therefore reinventing something does as well.
I agree that we should constantly be trying to reinvent the technologies we currently have to make them even better, but I'm not sure if the analogy you used is the best one for this argument. However, it does remind us that innovation takes time and that we should not expect to fully reinvent something in our lifetime. Instead, we should accept the fact that we will be one of many to contribute to innovation. We can keep the big picture in mind, but we can't let it consume ourselves.
I like to think of it as refining the "wheel". In some cases, it's about the visceral experience of having built a "wheel". Not all creations are a function of utility.
Like we know those iPhones are actually tiny supercomputers which Steve Jobs will use to conquer the world. Think about it! He had just started his evil plan by costing conventional countries millions by making their wage slaves show up late. Two words: EVIL GENIUS.