I've been reading a book that talks a lot about how to do various things that we take for granted today. Not just obvious things like growing your own food and livestock, but also pretty important stuff like filtering water, or making charcoal, saltpeter (an ingredient in black powder) or bleach.
If a situation arose, how many people would know how to dig a privy in a proper spot (downhill from any water source) and how to maintain it? This would have been basic knowledge as recently as 120 years ago.
I am impressed by the sheer number of things I am ignorant about. I mean, if I didn't have Google, electricity, and Home Depot down the street, I'd literally be living lower than a proverbial caveman. Even those in the so-called "Dark Ages" had a lot of down-to-earth skills that men today have lost (natural remedies, for example).
How can we claim we're so advanced, if individually we're ridiculously helpless?
If a man's only job/skill was to do a certain 30 second task (all day) on a factory assembly line, wouldn't it be true that the man is objectively useless? If that particular factory closed, the man would literally be unemployable.
People don't even know the basics of what plants you can eat, nevermind any advanced knowledge of plant life. And how many people (who eat meat twice a day on average) know how to hunt, catch, and/or process an animal? Heck, some people don't even know how to COOK outside of a microwave, especially if the power goes out. (Some might be OK as long as their grill's propane tank holds out).
And don't even mention preserving food. Most people would be completely lost without their Fridge. How many people know the real shelf life of common foods? Which expiration dates are a mere suggestion, and which are more strict?
Did you know that most antibiotics can be used after the expiration date, but that a particular one (tetracycline) becomes toxic?
Have you ever heard of a rocket stove? Do you know the basic concept, so you could jury-rig one out of cinder blocks?
There are a million other things like that. As I learn each thing, I feel like I'm learning it about 30 years later than I should have.