Much of survival work is drudgery, where one can think about other things while working. For example, I do my best work while jogging.
> Plus many 'discoveries' were likely accidents.
Of course. But those accidents come from playing with things to see what happens, and being curious enough to notice when something unexpected happens.
> Like, if you put even modern humans with knowledge of technology out in the wild how quickly do you think they'll be able to invent agriculture
Agriculture isn't hard to invent.
> or work metals from minerals in rocks?
Most of this comes from playing with fire. A lot, though, depends on higher temperatures which require a bellows. The idea for a bellows would come from simply blowing on embers to turn them into flames. Once you've got a bellows, you'll notice that the fire gets much hotter, and they you might throw various things in that hot fire to see what happens.
There are other things, like weaving, boats, sails, chimneys, etc., that make life easier and don't require metals.
Very few modern people, even engineers, have the faintest idea how to get iron out of ore, or would even recognize ore.
I enjoy watching that Alone TV series. I was intrigued that some of the contestants would just build an open fire inside their shelter. Those had a lot of problems with smoke inhalation, and would often burn down their shelter, causing them to exit the game. Putting a vent hole in the roof didn't help much.
Some would build a fireplace on the side, those did better.
One contestant built a fireplace on the side, and put a chimney on it made of stone and clay. No tools needed to build it. It worked as you'd expect - famously.
Chimneys are very simple technology, but took a very long time to invent - not until medieval times.
Much of survival work is drudgery, where one can think about other things while working. For example, I do my best work while jogging.
> Plus many 'discoveries' were likely accidents.
Of course. But those accidents come from playing with things to see what happens, and being curious enough to notice when something unexpected happens.
> Like, if you put even modern humans with knowledge of technology out in the wild how quickly do you think they'll be able to invent agriculture
Agriculture isn't hard to invent.
> or work metals from minerals in rocks?
Most of this comes from playing with fire. A lot, though, depends on higher temperatures which require a bellows. The idea for a bellows would come from simply blowing on embers to turn them into flames. Once you've got a bellows, you'll notice that the fire gets much hotter, and they you might throw various things in that hot fire to see what happens.
There are other things, like weaving, boats, sails, chimneys, etc., that make life easier and don't require metals.
Very few modern people, even engineers, have the faintest idea how to get iron out of ore, or would even recognize ore.