<p>The Prompt: If people worked less, would they be more creative and active during their free time?</p>
<p>Laziness is an inherent characteristic of human beings. When motivation is lacking, humans tend to do little, preferring to be slothful. As a consequence, working less will not cause people to be creative or active, as they would by nature choose to do little and let time pass. Examples of this behavior are prevalent throughout both history and literature.</p>
<p>When communism arose in nations such as the USSR, it was expected that each individual would naturally contribute as much as possible to society and only take what was needed. This swiftly proved not to be the case: the people of Russia, faced with a lack of motivation, gave up the desire to work hard, and defaulted onto the option of producing a minimal quantity of low-quality goods. Producing fewer wares than prior to the Communist takeover of Russia, the populace abruptly discovered a surplus of free time. This discovery did not cause the Russians to become more creative or utilize this newfound excess of free time for creating inventions. The opposite may be seen through the USSR's ultimate collapse in 1991. Being unproductive and uncreative during their free time, the people of the USSR were unable to keep pace with the technological development occurring in the other nations, and collapsed, giving in to a stricter system of government restricting free time.</p>
<p>Another example of the slothful nature of humans is present in the novel The Giver, written by Lois Lowry. This novel focuses on the life of a young boy living in a society where the expectations of each worker were near nonexistent due to an absence of the notion of greed. As a consequence of the low demands of the workers, the population had more free time than the workers of modern society do. However, this free time is wasted, with the people enraptured by television, lacing any original thoughts. No complaints arose when the main character was nearly killed by a machine. This negligence of societal issues is due to the lack of attention to the world around the people-they spend their free tie watching television rather than think. Lacing thought, one is unable to be creative. Therefore, it is evident that working less, which results in free time, does not inspire the people to be creative. </p>
<p>As may be seen throughout history and literature, humans are inherently lazy. Consequently, working fewer hours each day only results in more time wasted, rather than a creative population.</p>