Like, if you put even modern humans with knowledge of technology out in the wild how quickly do you think they'll be able to invent agriculture or work metals from minerals in rocks?
Much of survival work is drudgery, where one can think about other things while working. For example, I do my best work while jogging.
> Plus many 'discoveries' were likely accidents.
Of course. But those accidents come from playing with things to see what happens, and being curious enough to notice when something unexpected happens.
> Like, if you put even modern humans with knowledge of technology out in the wild how quickly do you think they'll be able to invent agriculture
Agriculture isn't hard to invent.
> or work metals from minerals in rocks?
Most of this comes from playing with fire. A lot, though, depends on higher temperatures which require a bellows. The idea for a bellows would come from simply blowing on embers to turn them into flames. Once you've got a bellows, you'll notice that the fire gets much hotter, and they you might throw various things in that hot fire to see what happens.
There are other things, like weaving, boats, sails, chimneys, etc., that make life easier and don't require metals.
Very few modern people, even engineers, have the faintest idea how to get iron out of ore, or would even recognize ore.
Some would build a fireplace on the side, those did better.
One contestant built a fireplace on the side, and put a chimney on it made of stone and clay. No tools needed to build it. It worked as you'd expect - famously.
Chimneys are very simple technology, but took a very long time to invent - not until medieval times.
Alright, go find a wild grass or vegetable and turn it into something resembling a modern staple crop or vegetable.
What do you think the gatherers of a hunter-gatherer tribe were gathering?
Prior to that, humans spent way too much time hunting and gathering (prey ran away and wild edibles don't have many calories).
The whole reason technological development accelerated is because people became sedentary.