Copper, but not for Ea-Nasir
There is a recent theory that the transportation wheel was invented around 6,000 years ago in Eastern Europe as a way to move copper ore from deeper inside mines. Wooden rollers had been in earlier use, but once the cart travels over a roller it is useless, unless picked up and carried around and placed back in front of the cart again.
The floor could be made smooth enough for rollers, but making them wide enough to pass big logs around the sides became incredibly expensive as the mines stretched deeper. The researchers suggest that rudimentary attached wheels, and then wheel and axle sets, were developed to function within the tight constraints of those tunnels. If that theory is correct (and the many contemporary toy model carts uncovered in that area suggest it is), it is another example of a specific environment shaping human creativity. Without roads, the rollers aren’t useful. Without the rollers, there is no pressure for a wheel.
What’s our equivalent of roads and rollers and wheels in 2026? It sure feels like we’ve invented an LLM wheel without necessarily having the smooth road to roll it on. There’s no doubt that generative AI and LLMs can do impressive things, but there’s a global scramble to figure out where and how they can be most helpfully used, and where they are a powerful but costly technology without a clear purpose.
If you want to develop a culture of excellent customer support, then you should start with the road. Where are you trying to get your customers to and what do they need along the way? Answering those questions first means you can apply new technology in the most intentionally helpful ways. You can build an intentionally people-centric support system, and not an accidentally technology-focused support system.
Roads everywhere are built with fairly similar techniques and materials, but anybody who has walked around a pedestrian-friendly city centre and a more car-focused one knows how different they can feel.
Within a couple of years, it should be much clearer how these new AI tools will best fit into our support models. We’ll have a more accurate sense of the cost, the capabilities, and customer preferences. The way we design and staff support organisations will settle into a new standard approach.
Between then and now, though, we’ve all got daily decisions to make. Keep your eyes open, try things, be open to change. Just don’t forget that ultimately you’re a part of the journey for your customers, not the destination.
