[mikeash]

I don't think there's that much of a difference between now and then, just people paying attention to different things.

I know kids who were certified to fly airplanes by themselves at 14. We don't let them captain ships anymore, but that doesn't mean there aren't any capable teenagers anymore, they just do other things.

There were plenty of useless humans around a hundred years ago as well. We don't hear about them much, because why would anyone talk about a random 40-year-old who can't balance a checkbook a century later? The capable people are the ones who get remembered. The less-capable ones don't tend to be remembered much outside their family, and within that, there are plenty of stories floating around about Aunt So-and-so who never moved out of the house, never got married, never found work, etc.

[Periodic]

There are have actually been a few young people sailing around the world solo in the last few decades[1]. I'm sure for each of those there are many who perform more mundane tasks or have jobs doing things like ferrying or tours. It's perhaps not as illustrious as it once was. Instead of captaining a ship we now have young people starting companies, trading one kind of venture for another.

1. http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/eco-tourism/stories/5-teens-who...