How did geography effect old stone age people more than us today?

How long would it take to regenerate modern technology starting with no or only stone-age tools but today's knowledge?

• If humanity were stripped off of all of its modern technology and provided only (a) a starting population of "enough" people together with one competent leader, (b) enough (i.e., an infinite amount of) food and water in the form of food packets that have no use other than being consumed, and (c) the Library of Congress (as of 2011) and internet terminals (containing all knowledge in the internet as of 2011 but having no other use), how long would it take for them to rebuild modern technology (say, an iPhone and a Lenovo laptop with flash storage, just for the purpose of having specific goals)? UPDATE: Okay, let's assume the knowledge is there. There is always some guy around instructing people to magically do the right thing. My question is aimed mainly at the technological bottleneck: In order to construct microchips that are as dense as they are nowadays we need certain machines that are computer-controlled. In order to build those machines, we need other machine, and so on. In order to construct 1950s-style machines, we need tools made out of metals that needed certain other technology to be mined and discovered in the first place. (And, yes, let's assume that shortage of resources is not a problem.) Rod's answer sounds intuitively plausible to me, but it seems like someone familiar with production of technology can make a more detailed and justified calculation?

• Answer:

  I would say forget all grand ideas about making making modern tools. There are a lot of skills that we have lost that Neolithic man could do rather well. Flint tools would be pretty handy in your quest for survival and they arn't easy to make properly. Whether its a stone axe to cut down a tree or a microlith to attach to an arrow, these are some things we may not want to take for granted on our journey back to the iPhone.