The Ancients accomplished wonders without the advantage of the cumulative aggregation of intergenerational technologies.
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And they did not have EPA Regs.
But generally speaking, they did not ‘dirty their own nest’.
More modernly, Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, Los Angeles Aqueduct, and others ... constructed by folks using their brains (and not wasting 99% of their time/lives on sports, entertainment, social media).
I cannot imagine that the people who made the old sailing ships, requiring a huge infrastructure, then sailed them around the world, were more ignorant that modern man. One man sails around the world in a modern yacht with GPS and it is a news story, it was just commonplace for huge ships to make long ocean voyages back then. We have now unbelievable technology to help us do incredible feats, like go to the moon, but it is no more that the Anchients did with an astrolabe sailing around the world.... Amazing.