Are our skills diminishing?

[Sombrero]

I mean, for example, looking back through history, we have jewellery, swords, castles... etc.

I think I'm good at DIY, yet I wouldn't have a clue how to etch a fantastically elaborate design into a suit of armour (making the metal peacock blue in the process!!!

Where did our ancestors get their skills from?

Another example, today's midwives and hospitals are amazing, but go back a few thousand/million years, our babies were being born, without anaesthetic, or soap, or stitching, or nappies, or blood drips, and yet humans survived all that !! How did they make it all work in a field?

 

[big-all]

but the the expected life span was very very poor probably mid 20s as in 1/3 reach 40 or 50 with half lucky to reach puberty

 

[bernardgreen]

There was no TV so people had time to learn skills.

There were no social security handouts so people hand to work to survive and learning a skill would provide a better standard of living.

 

[securespark]

How did they make it all work in a field?

It often didn't.

The mortality rates were shy-high for both mother and baby.

 

[pred]

We are still learning new skills and inventing new things.

 

[Sombrero]

There was no TV so people had time to learn skills..

from....whom?.... the OU? !!!!!!?

 

[Sombrero]

but the the expected life span was very very poor probably mid 20s as in 1/3 reach 40 or 50 with half lucky to reach puberty

So much less time to invent how to put a flight on an arrow?!!!

 

[Sombrero]

How did they make it all work in a field?

It often didn't.

But it also often did, through the most obscene circumstances, and with no modern medication.... otherwise you wouldn't be here !!!!

 

[Sombrero]

We are still learning new skills and inventing new things.

You'd expect so with the exponential advancements in computer power, wouldn't you? I'm talking about the beasts that existed between ape and farmers that lived on a tightrope of survival... medical emergencies meant certain death surely?

And the advances made are incredible, to the point that very simple, uneducated beings know how to lift a 50 ton stone on top of two very similar upright massive stones to make Stonehenge... and then there's the Pyramids, and the Great Wall of China... a lot of talented people die without recognition or trace !!

 

[OwainDIYer]

Where did our ancestors get their skills from?

They started apprenticeships at a very young age, that lasted for years, instead of doing media studies degrees.

 

[Sombrero]

Where did our ancestors get their skills from?

They started apprenticeships at a very young age, that lasted for years, instead of doing media studies degrees.

you say that, but what temperature do you burn steel to get a peacock blue tinge, and what do you burn, and where, and who taught you?

 

[pred]

Where did our ancestors get their skills from?

They started apprenticeships at a very young age, that lasted for years, instead of doing media studies degrees.

you say that, but what temperature do you burn steel to get a peacock blue tinge, and what do you burn, and where, and who taught you?

Probably the same way penicillin was found, by accident.

 

[pred]

We are still learning new skills and inventing new things.

You'd expect so with the exponential advancements in computer power, wouldn't you? I'm talking about the beasts that existed between ape and farmers that lived on a tightrope of survival... medical emergencies meant certain death surely?

And the advances made are incredible, to the point that very simple, uneducated beings know how to lift a 50 ton stone on top of two very similar upright massive stones to make Stonehenge... and then there's the Pyramids, and the Great Wall of China... a lot of talented people die without recognition or trace !!

They were built by aliens from another galaxy.

 

[Shutpa]

..................... a few thousand/million years, our babies were being born, without anaesthetic, or soap, or stitching, or nappies, or blood drips

Having personally witnessed such births in Ethiopia, Jordan, South Africa and the UK, and feeling that you had a genuine interest in replies, I was just about to post my own views, when my wife pointed out that, for a reason known only to yourself, you were starting threads on anything and everything. And for that reason, I will curb the urge to publish my own felings on this particular thread

 

[Sombrero]

..................... a few thousand/million years, our babies were being born, without anaesthetic, or soap, or stitching, or nappies, or blood drips

Having personally witnessed such births in Ethiopia, Jordan, South Africa and the UK, and feeling that you had a genuine interest in replies, I was just about to post my own views, when my wife pointed out that, for a reason known only to yourself, you were starting threads on anything and everything. And for that reason, I will curb the urge to publish my own felings on this particular thread

Wow !! Bolo, regards to your missus, but yes, I have a spasm of posting then go and do normal stuff for a few days. Don't live here like some.

My points about how life survives barbaric conditions is something I wholeheartedly believe in... your input is very valuable, but not essential if Mrs Bolo deems it such....

But to me, I'm gobsmacked as to how humans got where we are... and 99.99999% of us couldn't survive most things !