'The idea that people knew a thing or two in the '70s is strange to a lot of young programmers.' -- Donald Knuth
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Indeed. It's also not isolated to a specific profession.
One can learn a lot from your elders.
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When I think back to the people who taught me in the 70s, I feel they know a whole lot more than the young ‘uns.
But memory plays strange tricks, not sure how to test this methodically.
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Working in research makes this statement even more real. So many people think everything is unique and new, but most 'new' problems can be solved using a combination of techniques from the past generation. The problem is few people spend time looking at older techniques.
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Indeed, people knew a good deal more than just a thing or two in the 1870s. (Like, say, James Joseph Sylvester.)
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There's an odd perception that people without technology somehow aren't or weren't as smart. But computers were built by people without computers, and languages by people without languages. If anything, wouldn't that make them a whole lot smarter?
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Not to mention that most if not all fundamental computer engineering concepts had already been invented in the 70's.
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In fairness, US rates of educational attainment are far higher now than in the 1970’s. People knew lots of things (including how to get to the moon), but many fewer people had an education. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education