I was born before 1950 and am perfectly happy with 32 spoke wheels and, even lower spoke counts and radial lacing as long as they are done well and used in appropriate circumstances, like not for full loaded touring.

One of the reasons for older wheel builders conservatism is that spokes and rims now are much better than they were in the 70's and prior. Box section and deep section rims are much more rigid than the open channel rims that used to be common, newer Al alloys are much stronger and stainless steel spokes are far more durable than their Cd or Zn plated predecessors. Using modern building formats back then lead to early and frequent wheel failure.