Description
Lazy. Unmotivated. Procrastinating. If those are words you’re used to hearing from your inner critic, you are not alone. Take CrowdScience listener Laurie. On her days off she loves to relax on the sofa, watch TV, put off chores and generally do as little as possible. Meanwhile she sees other family members and colleagues apparently buzzing with energy: going the extra mile at work, taking up hobbies, going to the gym. Why, she asks, is she so lazy?
CrowdScience turns to experts to find out whether or not so-called ‘laziness’ is a fundamental part of biology or psychology; why some people have more energy than others; and we offer a few tips for boosting energy and motivation. Or maybe Laurie is just being a bit too hard on herself?
With psychologists Professor Fuschia Sirois and Dr Devon Price, anthropologist Professor Herman Pontzer and start-up entrepreneur Akhil Aryan.
Presented by Dr Alex Lathbridge
Produced by Cathy Edwards for the BBC World Service
Editor: Richard Collings
Production Co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris
Studio Manager: Jackie Margerum
Image: Asleep under a book (Credit: RichVintage via Getty Images)
It's pretty obvious to each of us that we are conscious, as we go about our days and feel the experience of just ‘being ourselves'. But how do we know that someone else is conscious?
It’s something we lose during dreamless sleep, under anaesthesia or in a coma. But what exactly is...
Published 09/29/23
Philosophers have long pondered the concept of a brain in a jar, hooked up to a simulated world. Though this has largely remained a thought experiment, CrowdScience listener JP wants to know if it might become reality in the not-too-distant future, with advances in stem cell research.
In the two...
Published 09/22/23