Lazy Evolution

Chapter 1: the Q and the A.

What is the most fundamental human characteristic? Fear, hunger, procreation, feelings, being social et cetera etc. These are all important characteristics, but most of these can also be observed in dolphins. What is the characteristic that makes us human? In my opinion, it is laziness. Yes, laziness is what differentiates us from animals. For most species, any attempt at laziness will result the animal dying of starvation or being hunted down by other animals that were not lazy. In a way, no other species can afford to be lazy. I think dogs make a good exception but in their defense, everyone from Plato to Pavlov rewarded them for laziness.

Chapter 2: Indulging in Indolence.

Laziness is not as bad as it sounds. It’s just the habit of resting before even getting tired. If you want to sound classy, don’t say you’re lazy; say that you are “indulging in indolence”. Progress for humanity is not achieved by people who toil for 14 hours a day but by lazy people who are continuously searching for easier ways to do things.

Procrastination is a close cousin of laziness. Trust me, it is not half as good as real laziness. The problem with procrastination is that makes you lazy for tomorrow. So my advice to you is “Do not procrastinate because NOW is the time to be lazy”. The only catch is that laziness begets boredom but don’t worry boredom is healthy and necessary.

Chapter 3:Lazy Evolution

The whole human race has a collective assumption that our species moves forward to find ever better and more enlightened ways to live. The assumption is that the current scientific world is better than the pre-scientific world that we read about in history.

In the past human beings wanted to be saved, or improved, or freed, or educated or just survive. But now we have come to a stage where we need to be entertained. The greatest fear we have is not that of death or disease but of boredom, a fear of having nothing to do, a fear of not being amused enough. This is the intellectual reality of the 21st century (at least for most of the well to do societies). This is what we have evolved into… lazy people with an attention span of 25 seconds!

Is this the direction humanity should be moving?

P.S: This is what comes to mind when you finish a Michael Crichton novel and then follow it up by watching the movie, Waking Life