What's the biological / evolutionary reason for laziness?

[Darius871]

One could also argue that challenges of the jungle weeded out any genetic sequences related to laziness until they were extremely rare, but then the onset of agriculture, industrialization, the welfare state, the information age, and so on removed barriers to said genes' proliferation. By 2100 they may well be ubiquitous...

[Cort Haus]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What's the biological / evolutionary reason for laziness?

Originally posted by Spiffor
It's one of the main reasons behind it, historically.

Right. Nothing to do with profit then. What kind of a communist are you, man?

[Cort Haus]

I make tools, and I make them to increase people's productivity.

If I'm too lazy to make them, my client's client, my client, and myself all suffer.

[Aeson]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What's the biological / evolutionary reason for laziness?

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Right. Nothing to do with profit then. What kind of a communist are you, man?

What is profit if it doesn't lead to an easier life? All those people working their butts off to save for retirement... so they can be "lazy" (ie. do the things they really want).

Don't get hung up on the negative connotation to "lazy". It's simply another form of motivation. When a person deems that inaction is more rewarding than action, they choose not to act. The same principle applies to choosing how to act. We try to choose actions which accomplish the most with the least effort on our part. This leads to technological and social advancements.

[Spiffor]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What's the biological / evolutionary reason for laziness?

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Right. Nothing to do with profit then. What kind of a communist are you, man?

Human history started long before capitalism, thankfully. The very concept of profit (though it largely predates capitalism) is still fairly young by the standards of mankind's history.

Let me spell it simply.

When you choose to use a hammer instead of your fist, it's out of laziness
When you choose to saw a tree instead of gnashing it with your teeth, it's out of laziness
When you choose to settle where food and water are aplenty, instead of further migrating to a potentially better place, it's out of laziness.

Generally speaking, when you choose to work in a more efficient fashion, it is in order to achieve the same results with less hassle, it's out of laziness.
Only later will your efficient working routine become the norm others conform to.

[Spec]

I'm kind of lazy at home...But at work its a whole lot different. I hate lazy people at work.

Spec.

[Lul Thyme]

Re: Re: Re: What's the biological / evolutionary reason for laziness?

Originally posted by Cort Haus


From a certain point of view - like from the perspective of one degree out of 360. In the real world for humans, where energy conservation is not really needed, lard-arsing it is as far away from efficiency as it's possible to get.

But you asked about the biological\evolutionary point of view!!
And from that point of view lazyness is a form of efficiency!!
Of course evolution didn't prepare our bodies to perform in the modern world, but lazyness is hardly the best example to notice that.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by Darius871
One could also argue that challenges of the jungle weeded out any genetic sequences related to laziness until they were extremely rare, but then the onset of agriculture, industrialization, the welfare state, the information age, and so on removed barriers to said genes' proliferation. By 2100 they may well be ubiquitous...

Actually, as I pointed out earlier, animals in general are very lazy, if you take lazy to mean, not doing much unless it's worth it.

By your standards, most felines are some sort of super technology advanced beings for sleeping all the time...

[Cort Haus]

If productive forces are advanced by the building of a machine, the time saved can be put to use elsewhere - including doing nothing, or doing something else.

So, I do understand what people are saying, but I think the desire for laziness in the future as a return on the investment is only one possible reason for that investment.

In business a tool may be required to stay competetive and to survive. Living close to the river isn't necessarily about getting more time off, it could be about having enough time to hunt, or work the fields. The idea of enjoying laziness in retirement is just icing on the harsher necessity of having the means to survive while having no means to make a living due to old age.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
If productive forces are advanced by the building of a machine, the time saved can be put to use elsewhere - including doing nothing, or doing something else.

So, I do understand what people are saying, but I think the desire for laziness in the future as a return on the investment is only one possible reason for that investment.

In business a tool may be required to stay competetive and to survive. Living close to the river isn't necessarily about getting more time off, it could be about having enough time to hunt, or work the fields. The idea of enjoying laziness in retirement is just icing on the harsher necessity of having the means to survive while having no means to make a living due to old age.

You're assuming that the goal of lazyness is to eventuall get "time off".
It's just to minimize the effort required to accomplish one or a set of tasks.
The rest is irreleant.

Living close to the river saves time and effort, you seemed to have agreed to this.

Lazyness is trying to avoid spending time and effort.

Deciding to live close to the river is a decision from lazyness.

That's all.

Your point is that the time saved might not be spent doing nothing?
That's besides the point.
You still minimized the effort needed to accomplish that one particular task.

[Lul Thyme]

I'm a noob (DP)

[Cort Haus]

Re: Re: Re: Re: What's the biological / evolutionary reason for laziness?

Originally posted by Lul Thyme
But you asked about the biological\evolutionary point of view!!
And from that point of view lazyness is a form of efficiency!!
Of course evolution didn't prepare our bodies to perform in the modern world, but lazyness is hardly the best example to notice that.

OK, I can see the evolutionary case for energy-saving, and accept that the desire for free-time can drive innovation. Hence the aspiration towards laziness can be positive.

I also accept that laziness isn't the only example of our bodies not being best-adapted to modern life. It's not a bad example, though. If I don't submit my tax return or pay my taxes on time there's going to be a penalty, and I know that the sooner I do it, the sooner I can stop worrying about not having done it. If my sense of reason and purpose was stronger than my sense of revulsion at the thought of sorting the accounts out, I wouldn't have the regular last-minute panic, or fines for being late. Or problems getting a mortgage.

Maybe this doesn't have anything to do with laziness, maybe its just a perfectly natural and healthy fear of accounts. :shrug:

[Aeson]

Don't confuse "lazy" with "lack of foresight" or "procrastinate". They are different things, even if often found in similar circumstances.

A "lazy" person who wants to do as little work as possible does those things they know if left undone will lead to more work than if done. The "lazy" person will file their taxes if they deem the penalties as representing more work than filing.

Also the "lazy" person who looks to the future will file their taxes ASAP if they deem worrying about the taxes, standing in longer lines at the post office to mail them at the last minute, and other potential drawbacks involved with waiting as increasing the amount of work.

[Dis]

animals are lazy if all their needs are met. My dog is one lazy mutt.

humans are the same way. Our advanced society has made it very easy to satisfy basic human needs.

And chores aren't basic human needs. That's why it takes forever for me to do them.

[MRT144]

it forces the rest of us to be novel in compensating and caring for the lazy