Comments | justplainbryan: It will be interesting to see how society changes when this happens....

justplainbryan

It will be interesting to see how society changes when this happens....

Mar 30, 2009 16:19

There will be a day in the next hundred years or so where sleep will be conquered. There will be a day where science will unlock the secret behind how to induce highly restful sleep at will, without needing to resort to chemical means. It could be an alpha rhythmic inducer like in Back To The Future, it could be some other direct tweak to the brain ( Read more... )

Comments 6

jamespolk March 31 2009, 01:13:53 UTC

If we conquer sleep but still have a society where people willingly eat the crap they serve at PF Chang's then we'll be living in a failed society.

justplainbryan March 31 2009, 05:36:07 UTC

Oy, I always mess this up in VBA class. I declare constants when I should be declaring variables.

In place of "PF Changs", please add the following code instead:

Sub InsertRestaurantButton_Click()
Dim RestaurantName As String
RestaurantName = InputBox("Enter Your Favorite Restaurant")
Selection.TypeText (RestaurantName)
End Sub

There! That should take care of everyone, including you!

esprix March 31 2009, 04:37:57 UTC

I will weep when that day comes.

justplainbryan March 31 2009, 06:09:00 UTC

Don't worry, we'll be long dead when that day comes. :)

scubagrrl March 31 2009, 16:37:30 UTC

I've thought, too, that a true 24-hour schedule would be useful. Reduce traffic bottlenecks, use all the time we have, etc.

There's an article in National Geographic (I forget what month but I can find it) on why we need darkness. Should be interesting. While I'm a night owl, I do need a bit of sleep, and I love my dreams. I think if I use the new technology to sleep efficiently, I would miss those.

seraph76 April 1 2009, 08:46:43 UTC

Nancy Kress (one of my instructors from Clarion West) has an interesting Novella that turned into a mediocre novel which centers on the differences between a genetically engineered race of people who no longer need sleep, and ordinary people who need their eight hours. Both the novel and novella are called Beggars in Spain, and worth checking out (the original novella comprises roughly the first third of the novel).

That said, I think the idea of completely controlling how and when we sleep in the next hundred years seems a little overly ambitious. And without consequences? Even the most beneficial technologies end up with unintended consequences...