rust said:
In some cases, yes, it might be easier to skip. FREX, knowing how to build a transistor means you can skip developing vacuum tubes in the case of logic circuits.
But that's not necessarily so with other uses. Take my previous mention of LCD flat screens - if you lose the equipment capable of building those high density circuits, you're probably going to have to go back to vacuum tubes to build CRTs, at least until you can rebuild your machines for making the flat screens. Likewise for high power transmitter circuits.
Further more, dissemination of information and utilization of knowledge becomes harder the more the infrastructure is damaged. Bob in San Francisco might now everything there is to know about making transistors, but if the factories and equipment to do so are in Dallas and Beijing, putting his knowledge to use might wind up being difficult.
As technology allows more and more of us to work via telecommuting, the gap seprating knowledge from the locations best equipped to exploit that knowledge will grow.
As I see, right now we're still ok. But as computers are used more and more in both our everday lives and the process of innovating new technology, the more and more likely it is that intermediate steps that are required will end up being lost. Not a problem if nothing happens on a global or larger scale, but a huge problem if something like that does.
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