We like to call it the evolution of everyday objects. But that framing assumes progress, refinement, improvement. What if what actually happened was something else entirely? Look at the shift from hand-forged door handles to stamped steel levers, from ceramic light switches with visible screws to seamless plastic plates, from cast-iron radiators designed like furniture to invisible climate systems hidden in ceilings. These objects didn’t “evolve” into better versions of themselves—they were simp