Java type inference with lower bounded types

Question

Why is it that Java can infer the common ancestor of multiple upper-bounded types, but not of lower-bounded types?

More specifically, consider the following examples:

static class Test {

    static <T> T pick(T one, T two) {
        return two;
    }

    static void testUpperBound() {
        List<? extends Integer> extendsInteger = new ArrayList<>();

        // List<? extends Integer> is treated as a subclass of List<? extends Number>
        List<? extends Number> extendsNumber = extendsInteger;

        // List<? extends Number> is inferred as the common superclass
        extendsNumber = pick(extendsInteger, extendsNumber);
    }

    static void testLowerBound() {
        List<? super Number> superNumber = new ArrayList<>();

        // List<? super Number> is treated as a subclass of List<? super Integer>
        List<? super Integer> superInteger = superNumber;

        // The inferred common type should be List<? super Integer>,
        // but instead we get a compile error:
        superInteger = pick(superNumber, superInteger);

        // It only compiles with an explicit type argument:
        superInteger = Test.<List<? super Integer>>pick(superNumber, superInteger);
    }
}

Answer 1

I think I can explain why Java differentiates between a lower-bounded and upper-bounded type.

Trying to infer a common lower bound can fail when incompatible bounds are used, for example Integer and Long. When we're using an upper bound, it's always possible to find some common upper bound, in this case List<? extends Number>. But there's no common lower bound of List<? super Integer> and List<? super Long>. The only safe option in case of such a conflict would be to return List<? extends Object>, synonymous with List<?>, meaning "a List of unknown type".

Now, arguably we could have resorted to that only when there actually are conflicting bounds, as opposed to the case in my question. But maybe it was decided to take the easy way out and not assume there's a common lower bound unless explicitly specified.