Recent scientific research has definitively demonstrated that the notion of capitalism as the natural result of the human species quest for aggrandizement on all levels has no validity. Not only is our species empathetic and cooperative, but also this aspect of life extends deep into our ancestry – actually, as some say, life itself down to cells is defined by cooperation. I wrote a review essay some years ago that tackled the issue, Cooperation and Human Nature, a review of Michael Tomasello’s Why We Cooperate.
With Andrew Smart’s Autopilot: The Art and Science of Doing Nothing we have another pillar of modern capitalism blasted: the supposed benefits, material and spiritual, of work – or as the Wobblies said sarcastically, “the harder the work, the greater the reward in the by-and-by.”
Smart establishes the scientific case for idling the brain to glean the benefits of doing nothing. What he presents is a remarkable, and seemingly counter-intuitive, discovery in neuroscience research that shows the brain at rest is actually expending more energy than when it is on task. While there is no unanimity among scientists on this subject – the research is relatively recent (and depends on an understanding of complexity theory to fully comprehend) – Smart’s very readable explanation of the science involved, coupled with pages of references at the back of the book, convinces.
For those of us who recognize the insidious mental and physical effects of work, but who hesitate to fling ourselves into argumentation about what should be obvious (it is not the quantity of work that is the real issue, but work itself) this slim volume comes as a handy source for scientifically embellished ripostes to lay low pro-work advocates, such as:
Being idle may be the only real path to self-knowledge as it allows the brain’s default mode network to kick in.
Most interlocutors will have no retort, but a blank face. There is more to this book, however, than clever rhetorical turns. We have here a good introduction to a new generation of scientific reasoning that values self-organization, non-linearity, randomness and more as ways to understand how our brains work.
For example, historically the brain has been viewed as a reflexive organ, but it is now recognized that the vast majority of the brain’s activity comes not from external stimulation, but from its internal operating system. This does not mean that the brain needs no external stimulation, just that the brain keeps itself in balance through self-generated patterns. Smart elaborates:
. . . the concepts behind these insights into brain function come from fields outside psychology and neuroscience, such as complex systems science and physics. We are just beginning to understand what the brain’s spontaneous activity really means.
Autopilot raises several intriguing suggestions about the connection between creativity and the type of brain activity at rest, or the default mode network. We have all had inspirations while daydreaming, or insights on a problem the morning after unsuccessfully wrestling with it. And artists recognize that a flow of creativity cannot be forced. The architect Christopher Alexander, for instance, would walk a new building site several times of the day, and often just sit to watch the course of the sun, to get a “feel” for the landscape. Frank Lloyd Wright did the same. Their buildings grew from a leisurely approach to design that allowed shape to emerge as out of the ether of the place. Their approach distinguishes their buildings from the structures crowding the airspace of the world’s major cities.
Smart, a researcher and a chronicler of neuroscience, seemingly proves that he has spent idle hours in the lab, by offering a number of speculations connecting his science with everyday life. Take noise, for instance, both the external kind and the internal one that the mind creates while it buzzes along idling. The research shows that noise is not necessarily a distraction, but in fact an aid in retrieving a “signal” – or insight – that the brain hasn’t quite sprung from its depths. This notion flies in the face of those who think that the only proper way to do productive work is to focus, excluding all stimuli and distractions. The problem with this approach is that forcing the brain to work in this manner limits its potential.
And this is precisely the problem with Management Training fads (another focus for Smart’s rapier-like wit); they assume the normality of our mad pace of work life and offer spurious solutions to overcome slacking that leads, in fact, to closing down the brain. Given that the typical job is already brain numbing, the effort to juice imaginative thinking with clever “productivity tools” appears futile, except no one can admit it on the corporate ladder.
Though with some exaggeration regarding what we know about biological systems, Smart notes that:
The only system we know of in the universe that can be innovative is the human brain. But the brain seems to need things like freedom, long periods of idleness, positive emotions, low stress, randomness, noise, and a group of friends with tea in the garden to be creative.
One wishes that he took on the “utopian” workplaces in Silicon Valley for their amenities and their twisted goals to seduce greater sacrifices and more stress. The one corporate workplace I know of that comes closest to the ideal site for commercial innovation is Valve, the game design outfit that has a reputation of scrupulously avoiding top down management to provide time for staff to propose a project and solicit cooperation from workmates to solidify an authentic team approach.
And here is where I wish that neuroscience go to next to calibrate the brain’s optimum activity – that is, directly to situations where cooperation rules. Smart ends with a wish for “a true post-work society, one that truly liberates human energies.” A noble desire, that has been charted many times in the past, both theoretically and practically, only to be thwarted in its realization.
Maybe, however, we are entering a time when the visions of idle speculation, in great part provoked by the lack of work, especially for the young – the dreamers – are merging to achieve a critical mass of ludic triggers to our synapses. We can hope that the festivals of tear gas we witness today, as the old world’s response to these “triggers,” give way to festivals of sheer delight tomorrow.