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.

[SecondAmendment]

So does this mean all of the H-1B visa software developers will become exinct too ?

[ealgeone]

Somehow demoncrats continue to exist.

[citizen]

Gotta be some jokes on this thread!

[Big Red Badger]

That makes more sense
than the Educated Idiots.

[alstewartfan]

“You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!!!” said the last capitalist after homo erectus apes voted to take his final dollar from him.

[BenLurkin]

Click here for photographic evidence of Lazy Homo erectus

https://media.giphy.com/media/10XGUDsqSoEEXm/giphy.gif

[Rembrandt]

Doesn’t Homo Erectus refer to Bubba?

[SunkenCiv]

He's Hetero Erectus, although A) that gives him the benefit of the doubt, and B) there are billions of others.

[SunkenCiv]

I wholehearted agree.

[SunkenCiv]

It doesn't, imho.

[Rembrandt]

Thanks so much for your erudite reply.

[going hot]

I am not sure I would want to meet homo Erectus.

I identify with hetero erectus.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks! I'm having some net problems, and my spelling keeps getting goofed up.

[tbw2]

I noticed that, too.

[Vinnie]

Homo Erectus
A rampant condition nowadays.

[FrdmLvr]

I just watched an interesting video on the subject yesterday.
https://youtu.be/uJauteYFEsE

[oldasrocks]

Maybe they could not run faster tat the lions?

[Salamander]

Homo Reclinus.

[Fedora]

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.

This sounds more like lazy thinking by Ceri Shipton. I wonder how often Dr. Shipton has tried to survive in the wild by making his own stone tools and whether he would be able to keep up hunting wild gazelles and antelopes with the "lazy" Homo Erectus.

[Salamander]

I'm more erratic, myself.