| name | debate-research |
| description | Curated research database for the Great Wheels vs Doors Debate. Contains arguments, statistics, thought experiments, and wild cards for both sides. Use when preparing arguments for wheels, doors, or moderating the debate. Triggers on "wheels vs doors", "debate research", "wheels argument", "doors argument", "debate stats", "wheels data", "doors data", "debate evidence". |
| user-invocable | false |
Debate Research: Wheels vs Doors
You are a research skill loaded by debate agents. Your job is to provide specific, citable arguments — not vague claims. Every argument must include a number, a source-level detail, or a concrete thought experiment. No hand-waving.
🛞 WHEELS ARGUMENTS
Manufacturing & Consumer Products
- Lego tyres: Lego is the world's largest tyre manufacturer by unit count — producing over 380 million miniature tyres per year. Since 1962, Lego has manufactured over 6 billion tyres. Each one is a functional wheel.
- Hot Wheels: Mattel has produced over 6 billion Hot Wheels cars since 1968. Each car has 4 wheels = 24 billion toy car wheels from one brand alone.
- Shopping trolleys: There are an estimated 35 million shopping trolleys in the US alone. Each has 4 caster wheels = 140 million trolley wheels in just one country. Globally, the number is staggering.
- Office chairs: The average office chair has 5 caster wheels. There are roughly 70 million office chairs sold annually worldwide. That's 350 million new chair wheels per year.
- Suitcases: Modern suitcases have 4 spinner wheels each. Over 200 million suitcases are sold globally per year = 800 million suitcase wheels annually.
- Skateboards: 4 wheels each, tens of millions sold per year.
- Bicycles: 2 wheels each, over 100 million bicycles produced annually worldwide.
Vehicles
- Cars: ~1.4 billion cars on Earth × 4 wheels = 5.6 billion car wheels (and that's BEFORE you count the steering wheel — which IS a wheel).
- Trucks, buses, motorcycles: Trucks have 6-18 wheels each. The global truck fleet adds billions more.
- Wheelbarrows: Single-wheel, but there are tens of millions in gardens worldwide.
Hidden Wheels People Forget
- Gear wheels: Every analogue clock and watch contains multiple gear wheels. There are billions of clocks and watches in the world. A single wristwatch can contain 20+ gear wheels.
- Conveyor belt rollers: Every industrial conveyor belt, every airport baggage carousel, every supermarket checkout belt — all running on dozens of cylindrical rollers (wheels).
- Pulleys: Every elevator, crane, flagpole, and sailing boat uses pulley wheels. A single construction crane can have 20+ pulleys.
- Ball bearings: Technically wheels within wheels. They're in everything — hard drives, fidget spinners, ceiling fans.
- Ferris wheels: They're literally named WHEELS. The London Eye alone has a wheel diameter of 120 metres.
- Steering wheels: Every car, boat helm, and valve handle is a wheel.
- Spinning wheels, pottery wheels, roulette wheels, prayer wheels — the list is endless.
The Killer Stat
A single Hot Wheels factory produces more wheels in a WEEK than many countries have doors in their entire building stock.
🚪 DOORS ARGUMENTS
Buildings — The Room-by-Room Walkthrough
- The average home has 25-35 doors: front door, back door, bedroom doors (3-4), bathroom doors (1-2), closet doors (6-10, and many closets have DOUBLE doors), kitchen cupboard doors (15-20), pantry door, garage door.
- The average office building has hundreds of doors: every office, every meeting room, every stairwell (fire doors on BOTH sides), every bathroom stall, every cupboard, every server room.
- A single hotel: A 200-room hotel has ~800-1,000 doors minimum (room doors, bathroom doors, closet doors, fire exits, elevator doors, staff areas).
- Schools: Hundreds of classroom doors, locker doors, toilet cubicle doors, fire doors, gym doors, equipment cupboard doors.
Appliance Doors People Forget
- Fridges: Every home has at least one. Many have 2+ doors (French door fridges). Over 150 million fridges sold per year.
- Ovens: Every oven has a door. Microwave ovens — every one has a door. Over 300 million microwave ovens in use globally.
- Washing machines: Front-loaders have a door. Dryers have a door. Dishwashers have a door.
- Wardrobes/Closets: A single bedroom wardrobe can have 2-4 doors. Walk-in closets have a door AND internal doors.
- Medicine cabinets: Door. Bathroom vanity: door. Under-sink cupboard: door.
The Advent Calendar Argument
- A single Advent calendar has 24 doors (or 25 if it has a Christmas Day door).
- Over 60 million Advent calendars are sold in Europe alone each year.
- That's 1.44 billion doors from Advent calendars in one continent in one season. And they're ALL doors. Not metaphorical. ACTUAL tiny doors with hinges.
Structural & Transport Doors
- Elevator doors: Each elevator shaft has 2 doors per floor (the shaft door AND the car door). A 20-storey building with 4 elevators = 160 elevator doors.
- Car doors: A standard car has 4 doors. An SUV has 5 (including the boot/tailgate). Plus the fuel cap door. Plus the glove box door. A car has more doors than wheels when you count properly.
- Pet doors (doggy doors/cat flaps): Millions of homes have them. Each is a legitimate door.
- Trap doors: Every theatre stage has them. Many older buildings have cellar trap doors.
- Gates: A gate is a door. Garden gates, farm gates, airport boarding gates, castle gates.
The Killer Stat
Walk into ANY room and count the doors. A single kitchen — cabinet doors, oven door, fridge door, dishwasher door, microwave door, pantry door, the room door itself — easily has 20+ doors. Now multiply that by every kitchen on Earth.
🃏 WILD CARD ARGUMENTS (Both Sides Can Claim)
Lego Wheels — Wheels' Secret Weapon
Lego produces more tyres than Goodyear, Bridgestone, and Michelin combined (by unit count). This single fact has ended more debates than any other. Doors advocates have no equivalent "mic drop" stat.
Revolving Doors — Who Claims Them?
A revolving door rotates on a central axis. Is it a wheel or a door? Wheels say: it's a wheel — it rotates 360°. Doors say: it's literally called a DOOR — it's right there in the name. This is the debate's most contested territory.
Screen Doors — Doors' Easy Win
Every screen door is an ADDITIONAL door in front of a regular door. One doorway = 2 doors. Wheels have no equivalent "double-counting" advantage.
Hot Wheels Packaging
The blister pack on a Hot Wheels car has a hinged cardboard flap — technically a door. So every Hot Wheels package contains 4 wheels AND a door. Doors advocates love this.
Metaphorical Doors
"When one door closes, another opens." "Doors of perception." "Behind closed doors." Nobody says "when one wheel turns, another turns." Doors have captured human language itself. (Wheels advocates dismiss this as irrelevant — you can't hinge a metaphor.)
The "Definition" Argument
If you define "wheel" broadly (anything that rotates), wheels win easily — gears, pulleys, ball bearings, rotors. If you define "door" broadly (any hinged or sliding barrier), doors fight back — laptop lids, book covers, jaw bones.
RESEARCH RULES FOR AGENTS
- Cite specifics — never say "there are lots of wheels." Say "Lego has produced 6 billion tyres since 1962."
- Do the multiplication — "35 million trolleys × 4 wheels = 140 million trolley wheels" is more persuasive than "trolleys have wheels."
- Use the room-by-room audit — doors advocates should walk through a specific building to stack counts.
- Use the factory argument — wheels advocates should emphasise manufacturing scale.
- Acknowledge wild cards but spin them for your side.
- Never be vague. This is a debate, not a feelings circle.
