Nice piece. When you mentioned the Covid period, I thought you were going to discuss people's panicky reactions to their sudden idleness, which in turn reminded me of Voltaire's warnings against the perils of boredom in Candide.
Living the joyfully lazy life of a philosopher comes at a price, namely a vast social underclass that is effectively enslaved for the convenience of a small group of people. As far as I can tell there is a constant scramble among people to out-parasite each-other, to sponge off of the work of others, so I don't particularly relish its acceleration. At least Nietzsche was honest in the fact that his ideal included a brutal appropriation of other people as slaves- not sure about the other thinkers.
The Nietzsche’s segment reminded me of some Buddhist principles (esp. stated by modern Theravada teachers). I think there are some common themes there ;)
