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One thing I've wondered about procrastination: we view it as a problem, and in modern task oriented work environments, it probably is. (I'm doing it right now!)

One thing I've wondered about procrastination: we view it as a problem, and in modern task oriented work environments, it probably is. (I'm doing it right now!) But what if procrastination is actually a positive evolutionary adaptation? Perhaps by not investing precious resources in certain tasks procrastinators actually did better in certain prehistoric contexts? I'm hard pressed to think of good examples[1], but I find the idea intriguing. [1] Ug the procrastinating caveman takes a nap in the cave, while Og the go-getter decides to go hunting. Og freezes to death. Ug waits until it's warmer and survives. This only seems convincing if Og's chances of dying were rather significant, in which case it seems other psychological factors would be at work, like increased social status by bringing in food, etc...

TheSOB88 17y ago
I think it's more likely that procrastination is a result of our internal reward system. Things considered work are not considered fun, and therefore not done. I mean, have you ever heard of a person putting off masturbation? The only things that people procrastinate on are things that don't seem fun.
electromagnetic 17y ago
Procrastination does appear to have evolutionary benefits. If you only hunt when you're hungry, not only are you determined but you're not wasting resources. If I go out every day and kill a deer because I feel like it, and not because I'm hungry (I'd assume a fully grown deer would probably last me more than a week) I'm going to cause myself major problems. Either A) the deer will get wise to me and any deer anywhere will run at the instant sight/smell of a human; or B) I'll kill all the deer and then I'm stuck trying to kill rats for food. Collecting firewood would likely have a similar problem as option B). When humans get it in their minds to cut down trees for anything other than necessity, historically very bad things have happened to us: the prime example of this is Easter Island. A lesser known example is the Old Kingdom deforestation, which is probably why none of Khufu's descendent's beat his pyramid. The scary thing about both of these incidents, especially Easter Island, is that people would have noticed a rapid increase in wind speeds as the trees disappears, they'd have noticed their crops failing (due to the wind) and yet the island is so small that the person who cut down the very last tree could clearly have seen it was the only tree on the island. I'd say in your example Og the go-getter would likely have killed off all the major wildlife around him such that he had a multi-mile trek every day to gather food. Instead of Ug the procrastinator, who could probably walk outside and find a deer foraging on the berries he'd been too lazy to pick.
- jacobolus 17y ago
  Your implication that Easter Island would have been fine if people just procrastinated more is pretty thin on evidence and reasoning.

TheSOB88 17y ago

I think it's more likely that procrastination is a result of our internal reward system. Things considered work are not considered fun, and therefore not done. I mean, have you ever heard of a person putting off masturbation? The only things that people procrastinate on are things that don't seem fun.

electromagnetic 17y ago

Procrastination does appear to have evolutionary benefits. If you only hunt when you're hungry, not only are you determined but you're not wasting resources. If I go out every day and kill a deer because I feel like it, and not because I'm hungry (I'd assume a fully grown deer would probably last me more than a week) I'm going to cause myself major problems. Either A) the deer will get wise to me and any deer anywhere will run at the instant sight/smell of a human; or B) I'll kill all the deer and then I'm stuck trying to kill rats for food. Collecting firewood would likely have a similar problem as option B). When humans get it in their minds to cut down trees for anything other than necessity, historically very bad things have happened to us: the prime example of this is Easter Island. A lesser known example is the Old Kingdom deforestation, which is probably why none of Khufu's descendent's beat his pyramid. The scary thing about both of these incidents, especially Easter Island, is that people would have noticed a rapid increase in wind speeds as the trees disappears, they'd have noticed their crops failing (due to the wind) and yet the island is so small that the person who cut down the very last tree could clearly have seen it was the only tree on the island. I'd say in your example Og the go-getter would likely have killed off all the major wildlife around him such that he had a multi-mile trek every day to gather food. Instead of Ug the procrastinator, who could probably walk outside and find a deer foraging on the berries he'd been too lazy to pick.

jacobolus 17y ago
Your implication that Easter Island would have been fine if people just procrastinated more is pretty thin on evidence and reasoning.