Laziness May Have Contributed to the Decline of Homo Erectus

Smithsonian ^ | August 13, 2018 | Meilan Solly

[SunkenCiv]

The next time you feel like taking the path of least resistance, consider the fate of humankind's ancestral predecessor, Homo erectus: According to the authors of a new study published in PloS One, laziness may have precipitated the early humans' extinction, leaving them unable -- and unwilling -- to adapt to changing environments... The team found that H. erectus tended to pursue "least-effort strategies" when crafting tools and collecting resources, even sticking to one generic tool for most activities. In a statement, lead author Ceri Shipton, an archaeologist at ANU, notes that the primitive peoples "really don't seem to have been pushing themselves." He adds, "I don't get the sense they were explorers looking over the horizon. They didn't have that same sense of wonder that we have." ...Comparatively, Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens expended much energy on resource collection. These later species, according to a press release, often climbed mountains in search of high-quality stone and labored to transport the heavy rocks back to camp. As the region's rivers dried up, creating the dry Saudi Arabian desert seen today, Shipton theorizes that H. erectus was unable to locate increasingly scarce water. Ultimately, the environment simply became too dry to sustain its population Laziness and conservative tendencies -- as represented by the consistent use of least-effort tool-making strategies despite a changing environment -- likely exacerbated the species' downfall.

[SunkenCiv]

Early humans made stone tools out of whichever rocks happened to be lying nearby, ignoring quality in favor of convenience (Shipton et al.)

[SunkenCiv]

Looks like a load.

[Olog-hai]

Laziness and conservative tendencies …

Oh, so they blame conservatism. Also our alleged past ancestors’ sedentary lifestyle; must have had too many modern conveniences. Poor Fred Flintstone.

[Pelham]

in that case I’m doomed.

[right way right]

LOL
They dunno nothin.
Maybe the Homers smoked too much ditchweed and just couldn’t get off the couch.

[Rashputin]

Actually, they died out because nearly all believed a wondering elder of the Algur tribe who preached that the Earth was overpopulated and that tool making was destroying the environment.

[EMI_Guy]

Homo Erectus. When reading that and hearing it in my mind, just why is it I hear Beavis and Butthead giggling non-stop?

[Flick Lives]

Homo Erectus replaced by Homo Couch Potatocus.

[thoughtomator]

Maybe they invented smartphones.

[American in Israel]

“Thinking themselves wise, they become as fools...”

Because it’s so much smarter to walk a few hundred miles to make a flint knife to clean tonight’s dinner... Truly an extinction level choice by that stupid cave man.

[right way right]

Yeah, and then they all turned to homersexuality forgetting how to propagate their homer erections anymore.
Diversity man.

[Nifster]

I see what you did there 😂😂😂

[TexasGator]

Don’t reinvent the wheel

[Yossarian]

It's not so much that Homo Erectus was lazy...
...but he persistently was being told that if he was working for 4 or more hours that he should consult a physician.

[clearcarbon]

"According to the authors of a new study published in PloS One, laziness may have precipitated the early humans' extinction, leaving them unable -- and unwilling -- to adapt to changing environments."

Potheads.

[Ransomed]

I can’t picture how this works with primitives? What happened to supposedly make them lazy?

Freegards

[Dusty Road]

“”Early humans made stone tools out of whichever rocks happened to be lying nearby, ignoring quality in favor of convenience””

That seems to be a rather broad assumption. We have several large camps on the ranch and many smaller satellite camps and you see tools made from a variety of stone. Some of the best chert in the Permian Basin can be found here and in large quantities. As a flint knapper of over 40 years I certainly wouldn’t want to use my best collected material to make tools needed for hard work that will see allot of abuse. The larger worked pieces that to my eye looked like they were made for breaking bone are always of a lower quality material. It’s far more durable than the material used for finer points and blades. We have several outcroppings of a course grade Sugar Quartz, worthless for making points or blades but excels for making tools which see allot of abuse.

[LouieFisk]

“why is it I hear Beavis and Butthead giggling non-stop?”
—
It got a giggle outta me.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Perhaps, but I suspect it may have had something to do with them being Erectus and not what to do with it.

[poconopundit]

If I lived in the heat of the Saudi Arabian desert, I would be lazy too.

Cold weather is where civilization got going. Then, when air conditioners arrived, all sorts of places got more hustle.

That’s one arm-chair scientist’s opinion.