30 years ago Bruce Gordon was the first to advocate for 700c wheels for gravel applications with his "Rock'n'Road" back when 26" was the standard. He liked to use the stagecoach analogy. From his
interview in Bike Rumors ...
..."The tires… the tires… everything was 26in....the angle of attack on a bigger wheel is smaller. It is less. So it makes sense. The reason that I used to give was the same reason they made six foot diameter stagecoach wheels. It would have been much easier to make two foot diameter stagecoach wheels— but it wouldn’t have rolled over things as easy."
I guess 36" bike wheels takes it to a whole new level following the same reasoning!