I like to look at it like this.
20 years ago operators had to have more street smarts.
Now, an operator has to learn a lot more information to get a license than they did 20 years ago, but that is because of the industry shift away from street smarts so everything being proceduralized, if that is a word.
Adrian, we have also heard "old times" tell us stories of 8 months long ILT classes, and that there is no way they could go through an 18 month long class of today. But back then, they had to operate the plant based on a deep level of integrated plant knowledge. Today, we operate based on a deep level of procedural knowledge. Yes, there is a technical aspect we still have to have, but I would wager that it is no longer on the same level as an "old timers."
Old school and new school are connected, however. Everything we have to learn from the procedures in this 18 month long class today, is built, like Marssim said, on the experiences of the "old timers."
So is one generation of operators smarter than the other? No, I don't think so, at least not in the literal sense. I think its just a different kind of smart.