All progress is due to the lazy man

I got that idea from a short essay by Bob Heinlein in which he inferred inventions were labor saving and thus inventors were lazy people. It follows all progress is due to the lazy man. I do not remember enough of the article to say if he was just being clever or had a larger principle in mind. I do have a larger principle in mind.

I have in mind the principle of minimum energy. Everything works in accordance with using the minimum amount of energy needed to accomplish an objective even though this expression anthropomorphises the universe. Those familiar with physics know this under several names. In evolution a trait once needed for survival will be lost if no longer needed, energy is not wasted preserving what it not needed for survival. Survival being an objective in the evolutionary sense uses the available energy to maximize those traits needed for survival and looses those which are not.

Evolution is not like physics where it happens instantly and every time but does happen over enough generations.

My point here is minimum energy, the lazy man principle, is much broader than it would at first seem.

We apply it to our inventions and find a steam engine of a certain horsepower takes less total energy than the same number of horses when one includes all the secondary costs of housing both the horses and the horse handlers and their families. This is why the first steam engines were adopted despite their incredible unit cost and trivial horsepower. They were cheaper than the total cost of horses.

The lazy man principle is the minimum energy principle.

As Hawking's nonsense is in the news let me point out his idea of alien civilizations and what they would do if they were to come here does not satisfy the minimum energy principle. I have to suggest Hawking has been watching too much Hollywood with his idea. (It is in a TV show, Into the Universe with HIM, Aliens which in general is poor but a promo I read said he had editorial control.)

The first error is that aliens would land on planets to strip them of their resources to build more of what they want. Think Independence Day.

Not only is a planet like Earth at the bottom of a gravity well which takes energy to get safely into and out of the only resources available are the ones which happen to be on or near the surface.

On the other hand the material which made the Earth are in the meteors and comets. They have trivial gravity wells. ALL the elements of interest are found in them and they can be consumed completely as opposed to being limited to a thin shell of a planet.

Mining asteroids and comets is the minimum energy solution for an interstellar civilization.

I throw this out for comment in that I intend to develop the idea of interstellar civilizations from this universal lazy man principle and any others principles I can recognize along the way.

I have started two other threads using this idea without explicitly identifying it. One was a credible means for people to get into space and live in space forever with today's technology but perfected. The most obvious minimum energy is the staff of space hotels for the rich taking their vacation in space rather than the more energy expensive trip back to Earth for two weeks if you are an American or six week if you are a European.

People want to live, have children, gripe about what their children do and retire to complain about how the world has changed. Making a living in space does not require returning to a planetary surface as that takes more energy than living in space full time. Mining the earth for use in space requires more energy than mining the asteroids.

However any projections I make from minimum energy requires it be legitimate principle applicable to space. Of course this implies energy is an irreducable fact, that free energy cannot be obtained. And no matter how cheaply obtained there are always better things to use it for than unnecessary trips down and up gravity wells.

No matter how cheap energy only the rich and those with a passionate hobby will expend it when it is not necessary to expend it.

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Yes, the lazy man principle is a very accurate description for curious inventing humans. Probably one of the reasons why aliens have not visited us!

Space is fascinating to us here down on earth. The other mans grass, or lack of it, is always greener (Until you get there!). But if you live on the Moon, or mars, or worse, in empty space, you will soon get tired of it and dream of wanting to come back to the beautiful planet earth where the air is free and you can live easily without much effort.

The lazy man in space will always want to come home to earth.

I like the idea.
John.

I see it like this Mark.

The idea of capturing an asteroid, moving it into earth orbit and building on it sounds great. but how big does it need to be? 10 kilometres wide, 20k wide, 50k wide? Its never going to be big enough, there would never be enough land on it to build stuff. The moon is only 3 days away, lots of land and resources, but no atmosphere to breath or protect us from radiation. But plenty of land to build factories.

For humans to live anywhere other than earth, we need almost everything you see around you. The lazy man theory says this is just not going to happen on an asteroid, the moon or mars. And 40 years after the last man stood on the moon, looks like the dream will never materialise.

But Mark Giwer there is a way it can be done. But it could only ever be achieved by people effectively "selling" there whole working life to a communal effort to create a habitable settlement on the moon or mars. Are you up to the challenge? Cos i am if you are!

John.

Shielding against radiation is easy, plenty Lead on asteroids! Running out of the correct materials needed to survive on an asteroid could be very costly, having to get them shipped by DHL to earth orbit.

The moon has everything we need. You just need enough people with the will to want to go and live there. People who are willing to give up everything in the quest to live on a moon with no air, 1/6th gravity and radiation that will kill you.

I foresee a future with many more Hollywood movies being made before anyone ever actually goes to live there.

(Mark,you have a very interesting website! Educational reading and viewing.)

John.

Not all inventions are "lazy" take shoes for instance. I don't think the guy that strapped animal hides to his feet was thinking he'd save time by that action. The guy that invented the drive through car wash had something though. I certainly can't wash my car that fast even on a good day. It may be lazy but it certainly is a more efficient use of time though it uses more water than I would. I think the idea is making things efficient time wise and not necessarily energy wise. I'd also like to point out that my car is a much more efficient way of traveling to my current work place. It would take me much longer by any other mode of ground transportation sans train travel

Certainly many household inventions are just that lazy inventions. I just got done reading a Ray Bradbury storie and one of the main characters noted that even with all the great time saving devices that have been created the average person doesnt save any time compared to a person from around 1900. What it means is we spend a lot of $$$ to get a zero sum gain. this is dumb really. I've backed away from household gadgets for cleaning other than a vaccuum. a cleaning rag and some solution to clean with is sufficient.

An electric Razor still takes 5 minutes to shave a face just like a straight razor or the old schick single blade
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Not all inventions are "lazy" take shoes for instance. I don't think the guy that strapped animal hides to his feet was thinking he'd save time by that action. The guy that invented the drive through car wash had something though. I certainly can't wash my car that fast even on a good day. It may be lazy but it certainly is a more efficient use of time though it uses more water than I would. I think the idea is making things efficient time wise and not necessarily energy wise. I'd also like to point out that my car is a much more efficient way of traveling to my current work place. It would take me much longer by any other mode of ground transportation sans train travel

Certainly many household inventions are just that lazy inventions. I just got done reading a Ray Bradbury storie and one of the main characters noted that even with all the great time saving devices that have been created the average person doesnt save any time compared to a person from around 1900. What it means is we spend a lot of $$$ to get a zero sum gain. this is dumb really. I've backed away from household gadgets for cleaning other than a vaccuum. a cleaning rag and some solution to clean with is sufficient.

An electric Razor still takes 5 minutes to shave a face just like a straight razor or the old schick single blade

Matt,
With your lazy man theory, it seems that the industrial revolution must have been driven by the laziest pack of no-good-ers in history. Each man's new invention was created by lazier and lazier guys!

But then along can the ultimate lazy man of all time. Albert Einstein's famous E = MxC2 must have been the ultimate lazy solution. So much energy you don't even need people any more. So some more lazy people said lets build a bomb with it.