It's 1850, and you're a plucky naturalist exploring the steaming jungles of Borneo.

You're pushing your way through the undergrowth, looking for new bird species to document in the name of science.

What tools are you carrying for your work?

Besides your trusty binoculars, you've got a notebook,

a rifle and ammo, and a pack to carry your gear and any specimens you collect. That's where the

gun comes in, right? You aren't going to get any bird specimens unless you shoot them out of the trees.

That's how it's done. Back at your camp,

you'll package up the dead birds and eventually mail them back to a museum in Europe, whence

you came. You use your notebook and your modest artistic talents to sketch the birds as

you see them in their natural environment.

You write copious notes on their behavior in the field and on their habitats.

You don't know it, but from a 21st century perspective, you're lacking some important tools.

In your time, in 1850, there are no cameras or audio recorders. There are no computers or phones of any kind.

No apps, no internet, no Wikipedia, no email. And as a naturalist in the mid-19th century,

you're also trying to make sense of nature with no knowledge of fundamental theories we take for granted in the 2020s.

The theory of evolution by natural selection, for example, and plate tectonics, and gene theory and population genetics. Whatever discoveries you make or conclusions you come to will be the

fruits of your own brain and senses,

your own natural intelligence. You don't have auxiliary devices like computers or calculators

to help you. Most of the processing and number crunching power you have for analyzing your

observations rests between your ears, inside your skull.

Sure, your research might benefit from conversations with your fellow naturalists,

when and if you see them again after your long journey.

...