[ExI] what do the old timers do better than we do now?

[spike]

Here's the idea:  we moderns can do pretty much anything the old timers did,
only a lot better.  They build pyramids, we can do that, even if not really
the same way.  They did some pretty clever stuff, but we can do better, if
for no other reason that we can figure out in hindsight how they did it, and
in nearly all cases apply our many modern technologies.

So what, if anything, could our predecessors do better than we do now?  I
will let you interpret that question broadly, so our predecessors could be
your father's generation, or people living a century ago, or thousands of
years ago. 

I thought of one: observing animal behavior, since the old timers often
lived on or near farms and had contact with beasts all the time.  A century
ago, most people could bridle and saddle a horse, mount up and ride without
hurting themselves.  Now, perhaps not.  But one could argue that if the task
is getting somewhere, then we are better, because we drive there.  Fifty
years ago, most people were better at fixing cars than we are today, but
they couldn't fix modern cars either, so it depends on how you look at it.

I am listening to Dawkins reading Darwin in my car, and once again I am
struck by how good Darwin was at observing ants, which he writes about at
length in chapter 7 of Origin of Species.  He really spent some time
watching the little beasts.  Darwin did a better job than any modern I know
of at the task of observing and interpreting ants.

spike