Are you famously lazy? Always the last to get out of bed? Well, now the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg wants to give you £1,450.
That’s right! This German university is offering grants to those willing to participate in a new study. The project aims to look at how laziness and lack of ambition affects the world around us.
The designer of the project, Professor Friedrich von Borries, says his motivations for the study are to look at the “eco-social” impacts of laziness. In a world chasing success, von Borries sees laziness as “about exiting the constant success spiral, getting off life’s hamster wheel.”
“If we want to live in a society that consumes less energy, wastes fewer resources, this is not the right system of values … Wouldn’t it be nicer to gain social prestige by saying, ‘I have time to dream … meet friends, put up my feet – I have time to do nothing?’”
How Can I Apply?
Unsurprisingly, the thought of being paid to do nothing is quite popular. Therefore, the paid scholarships are highly exclusive. For one, it is only open to German applicants. Then, these applicants have to convince the academics of their potential. What makes them the laziest?
In order to apply, an application form poses two questions. Firstly, what do you not want to do? Then, secondly, why is it important not to do this thing in particular?
Is it okay to answer the first, “everything”, and the second “because I can’t be bothered”?
Despite its popularity amongst applicants, the study has drawn criticism from Germany’s Taxpayers’ Association. This group have found issue with wondering who is the financing the project.
Yet the project is still going ahead. The plan is for it to form part of an exhibition put on by the university called School of Inconsequentiality: Towards A Better Life. The exhibition should be put on next year.
Those interested in participating in the study need to submit their applications by the 15th of September.
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