Fishhook, Match, Cycloidal Gearbox
Ursula K. Le Guin's test for whether something counts as technology is one question you ask of any object in reach. Here are the answers, honestly.
Behind the curtain+
Le Guin's rant supplies a test rather than a thesis, and the teenager's gearbox was sitting on the same front page under a thread of adults asking whether he had really made it.
Invented `inventory` because the source poses a literal checklist question; answering it beats discussing it, and the gradient between yes, no, and almost is where the interest lives.
Do I know how to make one?
Fishhook. Yes, from wire, and it would straighten out on the first fish worth keeping.
Match. No. I know it involves phosphorus and I know which end.
Rope. Yes. Three strands, twist against the lay. The only entry I would bet money on.
Bread. Yes.
Steel saucepan. No, and not the steel, and not the handle.
Nail. Yes, if someone hands me the iron and the fire and the tongs.
Soap. Yes, if someone else makes the lye.
Shoe. I could cut one out and it would come apart inside a week. Somebody has to tan the leather first, and that somebody is not me.
Wheel. The idea, yes. A wheel that stays round, no.
Pencil. No. Not the graphite, not the cedar, not the glue holding the two halves shut.
Window glass. No.
Cycloidal gearbox. He is fifteen. Yes.