Certainly, the level of scholarship experienced today is far more advanced than that of the past. Each day, each hour, each second advances are made that further expand the breadth of human knowledge; however, this knowledge stands on multiple foundations of  understood ideas,  preconceived notions, and intuitive reasoning. Cryptanalysis today can be accomplished by those of relatively common education because of the foundations set by previous eras. Thus, as Singh describes, civilizations in the past required more time, effort, and education to establish the principles of frequency analysis simply because they had not acquired the foundation of knowledge that is common today. In the era in which frequency analysis was invented, an “educated person” of the society would have the knowledge to read, write, and do arithmetic, and those skills were a great accomplishment for that era. Yet today eight-year-olds throughout the world have already acquired those skills, along with ways to collaborate with others, communicate effectively, and think critically. This advancement was only possible with a strong foundation of knowledge.

Critical thinking skills also allow ordinary cryptanalysts to intuitively use frequency analysis without training. Today’s constantly shifting society forces each person in it to think critically every day. From the rate that technology is advancing to daily medicinal miracles to constant national turmoils, each day provides an opportunity to create something new, something more effective, something no one else could conceive. In this modern society, critical thinking is vital to survival. Conversely, in the years in which frequency analysis was invented, civilizations expanded at a much slower rate, and thus critical thinking at the rate at which it occurs today was much less prevalent in earlier populations.