[supercat]

The only time humans have ever regressed is when knowledge is lost through unnatural death--the massive wars and plagues that killed the Romans, for example. And even then, we got our concrete back in the end, didn't we?

Perhaps, though I'm not so optimistic. A couple decades ago, a mechanical contraption such as a typewriter which had hundreds of precisely-formed metal parts could be produced in this country for a sum that could be afforded by a working-class family; there were many companies making such devices. What similar manufacturing abilities exist today?

As for things like computers, there were people who had the skills necessary to design functional computer chips using pencils, paper, ruby-lith film, and exacto knives. The computers so designed were primitive by today's standards, but could be used to "bootstrap" the designs of better ones. If there's a major technological meltdown, what abilities can be used to bootstrap technologies today?

Once upon a time, people learned the skills necessary to do amazing things in 4K of code. Outside of a few microcontroller developers like myself, how many people today possess such skills?

[speekinout]

A couple decades ago, a mechanical contraption such as a typewriter which had hundreds of precisely-formed metal parts could be produced in this country for a sum that could be afforded by a working-class family; there were many companies making such devices. What similar manufacturing abilities exist today?

A couple decades ago, the best typewriter was an IBM. And it cost $3-400 in that decade's dollars. Today, we can buy a computer for about that in today's dollars, and yes, they are assembled in the US.
And with the cheap internet connections, we are all far better off.

[ffusco]

I don't know where to begin: the loss of manufacturing in this country is a result of capitalism finding cheaper ways to produce goods abroad which gives all of us more spending power. BTW a plain vanilla PC costs less than a typewriter did in adjusted dollars.