Jan 21 (Reuters) - What kind of people created the basics of our modern world? Mass travel on jet planes, cell phones and MRI scanners, video games and gene-based medicines and news 24/7 and that laser at the supermarket checkout? Come to think of shopping, how did we get the container ships that make it possible for us to have almost anything from almost anywhere? Orange juice from China, nuts from India, swordfish from Japan, salmon from Alaska ...