---
author: Sam Collins's Weblog
date: 2025-08-19
category: Arbitrary Musings
source: https://samcollins.blog/bicycle
---

# Bicycle for the Mind

In Steve Jobs' infamous description of computers as "a bicycle for the mind", he refers to an article in Scientific American he read as a child that measured the "locomotive efficiency of different species in the animal kingdom". He described how the condor was top of the list, and humans came about a third of the way down the list, but humans on a bicycle beat were by far the most efficient and beat everything else by a landslide.

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It is such a compelling and inspiring pitch. He absolutely nails it. So out of curiosity one day I went through the Scientific American archives to find the [original article](http://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0373-81), written in 1973 by S. S Wilson, and see what was it he saw that led to this insight.

I discovered a few fascinating points in the process. The first surprise is that condors do not feature anywhere in the study.

![](locomotive-efficiency-chart.png){ .screenshot-lg }

Next, the species at the top of the list is not any type of bird. It's a fish. Salmon are the most efficient.

Well... this seemed a much more important point while we were disucssing a soaring majestic bird we were competing with. Saying "a man on a bike beats a fish" doesn't really carry the same air of apex superiority.

I also see this isn't even a list. It's a chart of course, but it's hard to describe exactly where humans are here in this chart, but if we reframe it as a list, we can say "that humans came about a third of the way down the list" which is both roughly right and very easy to understand.

But, in the end, the truth is in there: that us homo sapiens do indeed demonstrate a so-so performance while "man on bicycle" beats all the other natural species by a large margin.

As I looked for different clips of this interview, I found many other interviews where Steve says _exactly the same words_. This is a very intentionally crafted story. He pauses as he finds the word to say human he says "not such a great showing for ... the crown of creation", but he knew exactly what he's going to say next. Somehow getting "crown of creation" in there, sets up a godlike theme that connects with a condor flying high in the sky, and this turns it into a sweaty cold handshake when it becomes a salmon.

This seems like an example of deep design and engineering in crafting a story. Like most people I always thought the bicycle for the mind metaphor was beautiful and insightful, but the more I see these other details and how Jobs masterfully and intentionally selected and modified details to create and deliver this message is incredible.