the.com/idleness
the laziest-looking state your brain has, secretly running its most important software.
means The state of being inactive, unoccupied, or doing no work, whether by choice or circumstance.
from From Old English idel, meaning 'empty, void, useless, worthless' — the same root that gives us 'idle.' The original sense leaned hard on the 'empty' side: an idle field was one lying fallow, an idle word one with no substance behind it. Over time the emptiness shifted from things to people, and idleness came to name not just a vacant state but the human habit of doing nothing. It's a cousin of the Dutch ijdel and German eitel, both carrying that same flavor of 'vain' or 'empty.'
- default mode
- Idle brains burn nearly as much energy as busy ones
- eureka engine
- Most breakthroughs arrive while doing nothing in particular
- history's flex
- Roman elites prized otium, leisure, over grubby work
- diffuse mode
- Wandering minds solve problems focus can't crack
the great depression — 25% unemployment in the us in 1933, millions idle without work
siesta culture spain — afternoon break tradition in spain and mediterranean countries, institutionalized idleness from 2-5pm
unemployment in detroit 2009 — auto industry collapse left 28.9% of detroit idle without jobs during financial crisis