I don't even think they're persistent to us as a species. There's a clear evolutionary purpose to species not expending energy when they don't have to that applies near globally.
I would say the change is more societal than cultural. Humans in a modern, wealthy country can survive and procreate without doing a whole lot. People can coast in their jobs, or live cheaply and work very little and still not worry about whether they'll starve in the winter (for the most part).
There's no longer a biological necessity to get stuff done. If people of the past could have done very little and still survive, they probably would have. To my sensibilities, some of them did. The nobility seem like they did a lot of their version of "watching Netflix and eating potato chips".
I would say the change is more societal than cultural. Humans in a modern, wealthy country can survive and procreate without doing a whole lot. People can coast in their jobs, or live cheaply and work very little and still not worry about whether they'll starve in the winter (for the most part).
There's no longer a biological necessity to get stuff done. If people of the past could have done very little and still survive, they probably would have. To my sensibilities, some of them did. The nobility seem like they did a lot of their version of "watching Netflix and eating potato chips".