Can you explain the expression in this following paragraph?
Here is paragraph:
"People perceive one’s posture, the way one sits, the way one walks, the way one holds one’s head, and so on as a reflection of what has happened to a person in his or her life, much the same way people perceive one’s current level of body fat to be a reflection of how one’s eating habits have been in the past — and then assume that is still the way they are today. Despite the potential inaccuracy of such an assumption, it requires little effort and comes close often enough to make economic sense from an evolutionary perspective. This is why body language interpretation is hardwired into humans."
In the expression "it requires little effort and comes close often enough to make economic sense from an evolutionary perspective", "it" means "such an assumption", right? And Can you explain "it requires little effort" and "comes close often enough to make economic sense"? Thank!

Question

Can you explain the expression in this following paragraph?
Here is paragraph:
"People perceive one’s posture, the way one sits, the way one walks, the way one holds one’s head, and so on as a reflection of what has happened to a person in his or her life, much the same way people perceive one’s current level of body fat to be a reflection of how one’s eating habits have been in the past — and then assume that is still the way they are today. Despite the potential inaccuracy of such an assumption, it requires little effort and comes close often enough to make economic sense from an evolutionary perspective. This is why body language interpretation is hardwired into humans."
 In the expression "it requires little effort and comes close often enough to make economic sense from an evolutionary perspective", "it" means "such an assumption", right? And Can you explain "it requires little effort" and "comes close often enough to make economic sense"? Thank!

Answer

> "it" means "such an assumption", right?

Yes, that's correct.

> Can you explain "it requires little effort"

In other words, "making an assumption is an act that needs only a small amount of effort to accomplish." "Requires little effort", as opposed to "requires great effort". Let me know if that doesn't clarify.

> Can you explain "comes close often enough to make economic sense"?

The writer is making a reference back to the point made about "inaccuracy". "The assumption is potentially inaccurate, but it comes close to being accurate often enough [...]". it's possible that the point about this making "economic sense" (from an evolutionary perspective) is related to Richard Dawkins' theories on evolutionary biology, particularly the notion of "evolutionarily stable strategies" in his book "The Selfish Gene". The concept of "economy" is not limited to the world of finance nor production, it essentially maps to the concepts of efficiency and doing more with your available resources.