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.
It seems to me that in every culture I come across a chapter headed 'Wisdom.' And then I know exactly what is going to follow: 'Vanity of vanities all is vanity.'