A necessary precondition.......

I cherish a good wasting of time as a necessary precondition for creativity.  More important, I believe the conflation of play and work, of thinking hard and thinking playfully, is one of the greatest things this new invention has done. ... This new mode of being - surfing the waves, diving down, rushing up, flitting from bit to bit, tweeting and twittering, ceaselessly dipping into newness with ease, daydreaming, questioning each and every fact - is not a bug.  It is a feature.  It is a proper response to the ocean of data, news, and facts flooding us.  We need to be fluid and agile, flowing from idea to idea, because that fluidity reflects the turbulent informational environment surrounding us.  This mode is neither a lazy failure nor an indulgent luxury.  It is a necessity in order to thrive.

-Kevin Kelly,  The Inevitable:  Understanding The 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future