Doors vs. Wheels Debate

Submission 12,348

About

Doors vs. Wheels Debate refers to a viral debate about whether there are more doors or wheels in the world. Starting in early March 2022 on Twitter, the debate became increasingly complicated as it spread to other platforms like TikTok, where users either joined "Team Wheels" or "Team Doors" and began using mathematical and scientific evidence to support their claims.

Origin

On March 5th, 2022, Twitter^[1] user NewYorkNixon tweeted a poll to his followers, telling them that he and his mates were having the "stupidest debate" over whether there were more doors or wheels in the world. Over the course of 24 hours, the poll received 223,437 votes with the winner being "wheels," earning 53.6 percent of the vote compared to "doors," which received 46.4 percent. Over the course of four days, the tweet received roughly 12,300 likes and 7,100 retweets (shown below).

Spread

Twitter users started to debate the topic on the platform going into March 2022. For instance, Twitter^[2] user disasteradio posted a reply on March 5th that attached a screenshot of his extended take, citing a pressing question of his as to whether or not a door hinge counts as a wheel. The screenshot (shown below, left) earned over 60 likes in four days. Also on the 5th, Twitter^[3] user FuriousLives posted an image he created that outlined different types of wheels in support of his claim that there are more wheels than doors. The image (shown below, right) received roughly 2,900 likes via the tweet in four days.

However, other people like Twitter^[4] user JustinHubert believed there were more doors than wheels, claiming in a tweet posted on March 5th that, "Four door cars and trucks nullify themselves. All ships have doors, no wheels. All buildings have doors, no wheels." His tweet (shown below) received over 900 likes in four days.

The debate spread to other websites like 4chan's /sci/^[5] messageboard on March 5th, where an anonymous user asked, "i need help and i cant find a decisive answer anywhere else… are there more doors or wheels on the earth?" (shown below, left). The first user who added to the thread said there were definitely more wheels, referencing rollers in factories. Twitter^[6] user MattyDin also referenced rollers in factories, posting a picture of one as evidence on the 6th and earning over 900 likes in three days (shown below, right).

The debate spread to TikTok on March 7th when TikToker^[7] car0linebr0die posted a video that relayed the question, stating that it had been eating away at her brain for hours. She earned roughly 1.7 million plays and 290,800 likes for the TikTok over the course of two days (shown below, left). More TikTokers joined the conversation going into mid-March 2022. For instance, on March 8th, TikToker^[8] alex_wheeler222 posted a video from inside a factory that he worked at, filming and referencing the rollers in the factory similar to the discussions held on 4chan and Twitter. The TikTok (shown below, right) received roughly 3.8 million plays and 581,600 likes in one day.

The debate heated up on TikTok once people started using mathematics and calculations to figure out how many doors and wheels there were in the world, trying to settle the debate once and for all. On March 8th, TikToker koowaluh posted five, separate TikToks that chronologically attempted to find the answer through math. His part one video^[9] received roughly 277,400 plays and 25,400 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). His "Final Calculations" video^[10] received roughly 7,600 plays and over 600 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, right). In it, he concluded that there were roughly 82.5 billion doors in the world and roughly 65.25 billion wheels, effectively proving that there were more doors. He stressed in the series of TikToks the importance of what constitutes a wheel, such as something like a door hinge or a gear not fitting that definition.

On March 7th, the Melbourne, Australia-based radio show Fifi, Fev and Nick highlighted the debate on their show, bringing in an actual mathematician to help settle the debate for them. In the 22-minute long segment,^[11] they came to the conclusion that there were more doors than wheels in the world.