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Would it? People perform better when not stressed. Lazyness is a big driver for invention. Actual research is already done driven by pure interest, not driven b

by brnt 6y ago

Would it? People perform better when not stressed. Lazyness is a big driver for invention. Actual research is already done driven by pure interest, not driven by ambition.

agumonkey 6y ago
let's redefined work as shared laziness :)
kortilla 6y ago
> Lazyness is a big driver for invention What? I can’t see it being a good invention driver for anything other than the category of “tools for lazy people”. How was the invention of the OLED driven by laziness? How about the high bypass turbofan?
- sgillen 6y ago
  So many tools take a job that was possible without the tool and make it much easier, and in that sense many tools are “for lazy people”. Examples include: autocomplete, spell check, version control, undo, in-house running water, washing machines, Zoom. Just to name a few random examples, the list is obviously gigantic.
  - np_tedious 6y ago
    Plows and tractors
  - kortilla 6y ago
    Zoom is not for lazy people. The main use case is to allow people to have meeting who could not otherwise. The percentage of zoom users who could meet otherwise is vanishingly small. Making a tool that helps people do work more efficiently is not targeting lazy people. A person is not lazy if they want to do a job more efficiently and eliminate wasted effort. A person is lazy if they don’t want to do work at all. A smart writer uses spellcheck because people make mistakes and spellcheck is a lot cheaper than a proofreader. A lazy writer doesn’t bother writing in the first place.
- classified 6y ago
  Big driver, not the only driver.
- rpastuszak 6y ago
  > What? I can’t see it being a good invention driver for anything other than the category of “tools for lazy people”. How was the invention of the OLED driven by laziness? How about the high bypass turbofan? It's proven that "doing nothing" helps with creative thinking. The inventions you are talking about are a product of both hard work and laziness. You can't solve a problem by staring at your screen and thinking really, really hard for 10 hours. The solution will come to you a few hours later during a shower or a walk. > "tools for lazy people" 1) From the biological standpoint all tools are for lazy people. Lazy animals spend less resources, which in turn could be used for creating more lazy animals. 2) Our brain is wired to be lazy. This impacts both how we approach problems (form stronger neural pathways or move between system I and system II to use D. Kahneman's example) and how we avoid them (e.g. cognitive biases) 3) The distinguishing feature of humans as animals is that we create tools and become dependent on them. On a less serious note, I'd say that 90% of my programming work is driven by laziness. For instance, I test things in advance or design them in a certain way so I don't need to worry about them in the future. This allows me for focus on more challenging problems. These at some point become boring chores. So "I test things in advance or design them in a certain way so I don't need to worry about them in the future." Rinse and repeat.
  - adwn 6y ago
    > It's proven that "doing nothing" helps with creative thinking. The inventions you are talking about are a product of both hard work and laziness. The kind of "doing nothing" that helps with creative thinking is very different from the kind of "doing nothing" that results from laziness. > On a less serious note, I'd say that 90% of my programming work is driven by laziness. For instance, I test things in advance or design them in a certain way so I don't need to worry about them in the future. That's not being lazy, that's long-term thinking and defering gratification – which is the opposite of what people typically mean by the term "laziness". In your post, you're conflating two concepts: 1) Defering productive work until a later time to free time for near-term non-productive activities ("being lazy"). 2) Spending more resources (time, energy) near-term to be more efficient overall ("being inventive").
    - 6y ago
- hamilyon2 6y ago
  OLED: Performing in theater live is laborious. Also, getting there and waiting for actors. Turbofan is way out of my area of expertise. Still, I guess planes are less hard than breeding, riding a thousand horses, sailing ships, and so. And waiting, waiting is not for lazy.
  - ryder9 6y ago
    way harder to invent something like OLED..... unless you're massively ignorant to the huge logistical supply chain needed to make something like this economically possible and technological advances that took hundreds of years for it to happen
  - kortilla 6y ago
    OLED did not come after theater, it came after LED. High bypass turbofans did not displace the horse either. Planes were flying before they came into use. You’re not making the point you think you are.

by brnt 6y ago

Would it? People perform better when not stressed. Lazyness is a big driver for invention. Actual research is already done driven by pure interest, not driven by ambition.

agumonkey 6y ago

let's redefined work as shared laziness :)

kortilla 6y ago

> Lazyness is a big driver for invention What? I can’t see it being a good invention driver for anything other than the category of “tools for lazy people”. How was the invention of the OLED driven by laziness? How about the high bypass turbofan?

sgillen 6y ago
So many tools take a job that was possible without the tool and make it much easier, and in that sense many tools are “for lazy people”. Examples include: autocomplete, spell check, version control, undo, in-house running water, washing machines, Zoom. Just to name a few random examples, the list is obviously gigantic.
- np_tedious 6y ago
  Plows and tractors
- kortilla 6y ago
  Zoom is not for lazy people. The main use case is to allow people to have meeting who could not otherwise. The percentage of zoom users who could meet otherwise is vanishingly small. Making a tool that helps people do work more efficiently is not targeting lazy people. A person is not lazy if they want to do a job more efficiently and eliminate wasted effort. A person is lazy if they don’t want to do work at all. A smart writer uses spellcheck because people make mistakes and spellcheck is a lot cheaper than a proofreader. A lazy writer doesn’t bother writing in the first place.
classified 6y ago
Big driver, not the only driver.
rpastuszak 6y ago
> What? I can’t see it being a good invention driver for anything other than the category of “tools for lazy people”. How was the invention of the OLED driven by laziness? How about the high bypass turbofan? It's proven that "doing nothing" helps with creative thinking. The inventions you are talking about are a product of both hard work and laziness. You can't solve a problem by staring at your screen and thinking really, really hard for 10 hours. The solution will come to you a few hours later during a shower or a walk. > "tools for lazy people" 1) From the biological standpoint all tools are for lazy people. Lazy animals spend less resources, which in turn could be used for creating more lazy animals. 2) Our brain is wired to be lazy. This impacts both how we approach problems (form stronger neural pathways or move between system I and system II to use D. Kahneman's example) and how we avoid them (e.g. cognitive biases) 3) The distinguishing feature of humans as animals is that we create tools and become dependent on them. On a less serious note, I'd say that 90% of my programming work is driven by laziness. For instance, I test things in advance or design them in a certain way so I don't need to worry about them in the future. This allows me for focus on more challenging problems. These at some point become boring chores. So "I test things in advance or design them in a certain way so I don't need to worry about them in the future." Rinse and repeat.
- adwn 6y ago
  > It's proven that "doing nothing" helps with creative thinking. The inventions you are talking about are a product of both hard work and laziness. The kind of "doing nothing" that helps with creative thinking is very different from the kind of "doing nothing" that results from laziness. > On a less serious note, I'd say that 90% of my programming work is driven by laziness. For instance, I test things in advance or design them in a certain way so I don't need to worry about them in the future. That's not being lazy, that's long-term thinking and defering gratification – which is the opposite of what people typically mean by the term "laziness". In your post, you're conflating two concepts: 1) Defering productive work until a later time to free time for near-term non-productive activities ("being lazy"). 2) Spending more resources (time, energy) near-term to be more efficient overall ("being inventive").
  - 6y ago
hamilyon2 6y ago
OLED: Performing in theater live is laborious. Also, getting there and waiting for actors. Turbofan is way out of my area of expertise. Still, I guess planes are less hard than breeding, riding a thousand horses, sailing ships, and so. And waiting, waiting is not for lazy.
- ryder9 6y ago
  way harder to invent something like OLED..... unless you're massively ignorant to the huge logistical supply chain needed to make something like this economically possible and technological advances that took hundreds of years for it to happen
- kortilla 6y ago
  OLED did not come after theater, it came after LED. High bypass turbofans did not displace the horse either. Planes were flying before they came into use. You’re not making the point you think you are.