Progress depends on humans being lazy. We have inventions and innovations precisely because humans are so good at finding ways to make their (own) lives easier - usually by eliminating repetitive tasks via some kind of work-around or alternate approach.
There is a well known quote about insanity [0] and blind repetition that occasionally gets associated with idiocy too. If everyone was always starting from first principles, we could argue that humanity, as aggregate, is insane. (Which might still be true!)
Repeating experiments to verify results is good. Doing the same things over and over again likely means you're not learning.
I don't think laziness accounts for that behavior. Need for efficiency and business might, since most inventions are motivated by yet other endeavors which hardly counts as lazy. I think that the most basic ideas involved in hunting, farming and fighting are motivated by the ultimate need to get some rest.
OTOH, rest shouldn't be confused with laziness, which has a negative connotation, because some see idleness as an ill when it is assigned the highest priority before other desires/needs.
Progress depends on humans being lazy. We have inventions and innovations precisely because humans are so good at finding ways to make their (own) lives easier - usually by eliminating repetitive tasks via some kind of work-around or alternate approach.
There is a well known quote about insanity [0] and blind repetition that occasionally gets associated with idiocy too. If everyone was always starting from first principles, we could argue that humanity, as aggregate, is insane. (Which might still be true!)
Repeating experiments to verify results is good. Doing the same things over and over again likely means you're not learning.
0: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Insanity (search for "different results")