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[Osmosis Jones]

Sigh. It's been a long time since I was 14, but "Elon musk is Iron Man" and "Solid metal snake" just set me snickering.

[Sergarr]

Judging by your comment of "humans aren't lazy", you don't really understand just how deep the roots of laziness go

... understand quite well, and the answer is "not very". Humans as a species are considerably inclined towards action, particularly creative action, and it takes fairly substantial environmental pressures and/or mental illness to actually make us inclined towards substantial inaction. Laziness is very much not inherent to humankind.

"Too much effort" isn't a sign of laziness, it's a sign of depression, generally. A lazy person can and will still improve, just at a slower pace. People like to do things, even if they're lazy.

If anything, laziness just breeds efficiency, getting more done with less effort.

...Have you even seen how students work in universities?

People there tend to avoid completing their assignments until the last possible moment. And then half-ass it because otherwise it's "too much effort". And they never, ever improve, unless they're absolutely being forced to do that, and even then they tend to rapidly forget that improvement in a few months.

[Frumple]

... I've been enrolled in four different colleges at this point, from community to state level, as well as tutored community college students for several months. Not once have I been in a course where what you describe accurately portrays the behavior of even a simple majority of a class. Bloody hell, I haven't even seen the majority of a class act like that in freaking adult school, which handles high school dropouts and minors under probation.

And even then, what you're talking about is not laziness -- it's different priorities. Most of the minority of students I've seen that do what you describe even occasionally (of which, only a minority of those exhibit the behavior in question regularly) are not even remotely lazy, they're active, with work, socialization, personal interests, or family/home responsibilities, to the point it interferes with their school work. And even then, all but the rarest at least manage some knowledge and methodology acquisition and retention, even months or years later.

If you've experienced what you're describing, it runs violently counter to everything I have, as well as most everything I've heard of. People just... aren't lazy. We default towards being active, to the point actual prolonged inactivity causes various sorts of medical and psychological issues. And given enough time and the resources, even the least active among us that aren't outright sessile eventually work to improve their lot to some degree or another, if something isn't actively interfering with them.

[Dutchling]

Way to make me feel bad about myself, Frumps :p

[Sheb]

That felt like a pretty accurate description of myself actually.

[Helgoland]

Ayup.

[wierd]

My evaluation of humans is not that they are "Lazy"-- It is that they are "Selfish", and not always rational.

"Selfish" in this case, I define the following way:  "Seeks to promote the immediate desires or needs of the self as the primary motive, even if at the detriment of other priorities or agencies."

It is the "immediate" part that is the clencher. Without it, altruism can be described in terms of complex selfishness.

The college student that goes to the frat party every friday and tortures their brain and liver in the process of this weekly ritual, then goes on spring break and imbibes who-knows-what, only to come back and then feak out at the looming mid terms is not "Lazy"-- They are actively trying to find ways to prioritize what they desire at that moment, each and every moment, and are focusing a great deal of energy to get it.  The apathetic student that sits in the corner and drools? That's lazy.

The fratboy syndrome student would be well advised to strongly reconsider their priorities, and the reason they are attending college in the first place, but they just represent a recurring cliche' on the "Selfish" behavior profile. ALL humans exhibit this behavior.

"I am going to college because I want a better paying job, so I can do X"  Where X is something they find pleasurable.
"I bought this dog, so I could walk it, so that I could meet hot chicks."
"I bought this dog, so I could walk it, so that I could get more cardio exercise and live longer."
"I bought this dog, so that I could have a companion."
etc...

All of them focus on an immediate "Thing" that comes from some act, that ultimately or expressly satiates some desire or need.
This is just the basic human thought process. "I want/need X --- How to obtain? --> Do thing, get X!"

EG, "I want pretty Prada shoes, but they cost money! To get money, I need a job. I work at the job to get the money to buy the Prada shoes!"

It just so happens to work in hand with "I want lots of money so I dont have to work-- I will employ others to make Prada Shoes to my specifications-- I pay them a small percentage of the profit of the sale of the shoes, and pocket the rest!"

and "I want lots of money so I dont have to work-- I will employ others to make Widgets to my specifications-- I pay them a small percentage of the profit of the sales of the Widgets, and pocket the rest!"

Notice that at no point in any of these thought streams are the other, complicated consequences of these courses of action.  Prada Shoes require synthetic materials, which to retain cost effecacy for the Prada company, have to be sourced from the cheapest reliable source--- So there's ecological and economic complications baked right in-- if not outright illegal labor.  The Prada company head does not consider this. His goal is to make lots of money so he never has to work ever again. And he gets it.  The lady working for the Widget company so that she can afford to buy pretty prada shoes does not contemplate the source of the materials that the Prada company makes the shoes from-- Nor the long term impact that her labor for the Widget company has on others for her paycheck to get said Prada shoes. Only that she works, to get the money, to get the shoes.

To me, this is the big failing of human kind.  We aren't lazy.  We are selfish.  Pathologically so.

[Angle]

I'd say that the problem is less self interest and more stupidity - people failing to consider the implications of their actions. For example, the fratboy not thinking about their future, or the prada people not considering how the environmental impacts of their consumption and suffering from them. Though selfishness certainly also makes an appearance. There are plenty of examples of people quite itelligently optimizing their own profit by screwing others over, knowingly and after considering carefully all of the ramifications of their actions.

[Arx]

A few cool ways of treating brain cancer.

I don't think most of these are generally available, but they bode well for the future.

[Arx]

AI safety open letter.

[miljan]

Huge 3-D displays without 3-D glasses

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150115102837.htm

[Frumple]

... So how about that pluto? Apparently around five or so months before it's close close, but...

... then we get to watch it go past pluto! And bounce off the inside of the celestial sphere! It'll be great, ahahaha!

[olemars]

Scientists managed to film a laser beam as it bounces between mirrors. They had to make a composite of 2 million laser pulses to get enough scattered photons to reach their special sensors, but it's still very cool.

[10ebbor10]

The Global Calculator

[Arx]

Portable EEG machines for helping people who are completely paralysed. Can't come soon enough, as far as I'm concerned. That's pretty close to the worst fate I can think of.