By Jeremy Saum  July 23rd, 2009 11:01 am  |  Comments (1)

In the Talk department of Afar’s premier issue, you can read about how Czechs believe in the creative power of laziness. The great Adam Gopnik, in this essay from the New Yorker’s Innovators Issue (registration required to read the full story), thinks they might have it right.

Touching on disposable razors, medieval mousetraps (and lack thereof), booklights, candles, peacocks, starfish (which reproduce “as Brad and Angelina seem to, by mere proximity”), and Prince’s mustache, he discusses the idea that it’s not competition that drives innovation, but leisure and abundance: “Once we no longer have to pressure our bodies to chew and hunt, the big heads behind them, having nothing to do, start doing what they please.” He also questions whether innovation is always a good thing: “The peacock with its tail and buzzing batteries is dying. The starfish, by candlelight, inherits the earth.”

Plenty of material for a good discussion with friends, preferably over a drink. You just might experience what the Czechs call pohoda.