There are many people on the internet researching how basic things can be made in a low-tech fashion. I particularly enjoy https://simplifier.neocities.org/ htt

There are many people on the internet researching how basic things can be made in a low-tech fashion. I particularly enjoy https://simplifier.neocities.org/ https://simplifier.neocities.org/ for example. But if you read those blogs you still notice the mind boggling height of the giants whose shoulders the bloggers stand on. Having access to simple chemicals like acids or various salts for example is huge. I wouldn't even know where to start if I had to bootstrap a highschool chemistry kit starting with nothing but my hands and my knowledge.