The something in nothing

Can something come out of nothing?

Last month a German University announced grants for students to do nothing. Hamburg Arts College is offering three scholarships each worth the equivalent of $A2,600 to students who are committed to idleness.

To qualify, students need to identify how their idleness will be productive, challenging the ancient dictum, associated with Parmenides – and more recently Shakespeare’s King Lear – that “nothing comes of nothing”.