Would they want to?

At Cognitive Daily, Dave Munger has posted an interesting article that begins with a question from Christine Kenneally's book The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language:

If we shipwrecked a boatload of babies on the Galapagos Islands—assuming they had all the food, water, and shelter they needed to survive—would they produce language in any form when they grew up? And if it did, how many individuals would you need for it to take off, what form might it take, and how would it change over the generations?

After discussing how others have answered that question, Munger asks one of his own:

I've often wondered how long it would take a small group (say, 50) of humans to recreate modern society. Would 50 average individuals have enough knowledge to rebuild modern technology in a generation? Would they want to?