daily life for people of long ago?

in history classes, i always hear about how in the past, discoveries were made by sitting down for countless hours and observing surroundings. all people did was think about life and such. the only real struggle was trying to find necessities for life, and supplies were abundant, so it probably wasn't very difficult. this did not only happen in well developed cultures, these uprisings of enlightened societies were everywhere.

today, what does everyone do, play while we're young, study while were at a midage, and work our butts off in the end. there doesn't seem to be much time for people to sit down and expand their knowledge or develop/establish revolutionary ideals.

but, you can easily argue that, things in the universe are becoming too advanced for humans and room for super special awesome amazing discoveries is decreasing.

School.? That's where most of the knowledge we gain comes from. After that (learning simple things) you can decide on whether you want to expand your discoverys and share your experience with the world.

in the past, discoveries were made by sitting down for countless hours and observing surroundings. all people did was think about life and such.
They still do.

the only real struggle was trying to find necessities for life, and supplies were abundant, so it probably wasn't very difficult.
Yes, it was. Health and science were severely under studied due to the repression of Christianity. Sure resources were abundant but people had no idea what to do with with it though it depends on how far back we're talking here. Medieval?

today, what does everyone do, play while we're young, study while were at a midage, and work our butts off in the end.

There's more to life than that.

there doesn't seem to be much time for people to sit down and expand their knowledge or develop/establish revolutionary ideals .
wat? Not if you fritter your life away on the internet. In high school, your time is spent for you. Once you reach college, your time is your time. You have classes but they're only a few hours per day a class. The rest of the time is yours to study and "expand their knowledge" as you've said. In addition, the courses you take are what you choose. You're basically studying and expanding your mind in the field you chose.

But if you're wondering why the next John Locke, Pavlov and Einstein isn't as common in modern day as the 1900's I'd say the most of the fundamental theories have already have established. However, revolutionary ideals are always being made by scientists and engineers. Do you follow up on the development on space studies? The LHC?

but, you can easily argue that, things in the universe are becoming too advanced for humans and room for super special awesome amazing discoveries is decreasing.

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6100/spacek.jpg
Take a nice read of this picture and see how "little" there is left to discover.

Good day, sir.

School.? That's where most of the knowledge we gain comes from. After that (learning simple things) you can decide on whether you want to expand your discoverys and share your experience with the world.

then it seems like there is a lack of motivation among people