One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil to think is to do. The crossed arms work the clasped hands act. The eyes upturned to Heaven are an act of creation.
And this is one way to do technology forecasting get a sense of where technology is and then anticipate the next upturn.
The Government of the absolute majority instead of the Government of the people is but the Government of the strongest interests and when not efficiently checked it is the most tyrannical and oppressive that can be devised.