Mike "Bagel"

In most every other area of our economy, not only is productivity a well-defined concept, but it’s often central to how work unfolds. Indeed, much of the astonishing economic growth fueling modernity can be attributed to a more systematic treatment of this fundamental idea. Early uses of the term can be traced back to agriculture, where its meaning

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things."

—Ray Bradbury

For our purposes, the key observation from Dyble’s study is the uneven nature of the foragers’ efforts. A busy start to a fishing expedition might also involve a long nap in the boat during the midday doldrums. An exhausting hunting trip might be followed by multiple days waiting out the rain, doing very little. The rice-farming Agta, by contrast,

There’s a connection between novelty and joy. — Jacqueline Lovell-Lantz, Sandy, Utah

"It's that essence, that essential quality life that gives us a sense of aliveness. [...] It's far beyond anything we can box up and label in any satisfactory way."

― Mukti Gray on the unknowable nature of the essential self