I believe the spirit of “doing nothing is good for the soul” in the context of the whole, is pointed more at the dissolution of the thought that you ought to be doing something productive.
I would credit you the question, can one ever “do nothing?” Sitting on a park bench is something. Listening to birds in the morning is something. Breathing is something. These things are good for the soul, they are not “productive” in a capitalistic sense and I think that is the point of the list.
Creepy and anatomically correct are sometimes at odds
Like, technology is cool. Engineering is cool. Building better weapons to kill each other and strike enough fear to garner compliance has never solved the impetus for their creation: the fear that a human will kill you, so you attempt to kill them first.
It’d be tight if a “rising china” or “rising anyone” meant that we as a global society would benefit from new helpful tech that gave people more choice and autonomy to improve their lives and the ones around them.
Thank you for sharing that excerpt! Definitely a concept I had not thought about, makes perfect sense, and is seen demonstrated in the gentrification process.