Why is this such a common trope? "People of the other world are less intelligent than the people of earth they need me to teach them basic concepts!" I'm pretty sure the Incans were one of the few cultures that didn't use the wheel for transport. There is no reason to suspect these people have the geography that would discourage use of the wheel like the Incans.
@UncleKaos @Wonderwiener @Aboideau @PLaci1982 @Gletscher
While authors do tend to abuse this trope, it isn't all that far a stretch to say that enhanced system based stats along with Magic and Skills could stifle innovation. Why waste time building a small cart when most laborers can just toss a few hundred pounds of materials on their shoulder or into a large bucket.
The same is true for using leaves as fertilizer. When most [Farmer]s defaults to their [Skills], there is less incentive to
find alternative methods to increase the yield of their crops.
Again, it is a hackneyed trope and a lazy author's crutch, but it is easy to see how technology, magic, and skills can Stifle innovation. In fact I have the perfect example for our community. AI assisted MTL.
Long gone are the days where a translation team needed manual tools to scan physical books. So a digital scanner would be just as alien to a modern scanalation group as wheelbarrows are to people who wields magic and system based skills.
So while true this is being exaggerated to a great degree, it's not completely beyond all reason to think a magical fantasy setting failed to develop in the same manner we have.