The Economics of Waste and Attention

Hodja often exposed the foolishness of human economic systems through absurdist tales—the logic that creates poverty alongside wealth, waste alongside need. Birdwatching reveals this paradox tangibly. Birds waste nothing: every molt feeds insects, every dropped seed becomes nourishment. Their movements follow energetic necessity; they fly only when required, rest when able, orient toward survival with elegant efficiency. Yet humans create elaborate, wasteful systems—the resources devoted to binoculars, cameras, field guides, travel for rare sightings, the energy expenditure. The concept asks: is this waste or is it valuable? Hodja's answer is paradoxical: yes, it is foolish excess, and yes, it can be sacred. The attention paid through these practices, the time stolen from productivity, the resources devoted to watching rather than using—these represent a counter-economy. Birdwatching is economically "useless," which makes it radical. By observing birds' perfect parsimony while we spend extravagantly on attention, we glimpse the foolishness of growth-driven economics and the quiet subversion of sitting still to watch wings.