Assume medical science or psychology develops a way for humans to take a pill or meditate, or plug into some sort of brain EEG machine for 5-10 mins, and you no longer have the physiological or pyschological necessities of REM.
Would you use this brand new technology, and if you did, what would you do now in the place of sleep?
I would absolutely use it. With the extra 8 hours or so in my day, I’d work on creating a business that would help me quit my job. I’d adopt a bunch of hobbies that interest me that I don’t currently have time for. I’d exercise more.
Someone needs to get to work inventing one of those pills.
I would be bored out of my mind. I mean, yeah, it’d be good to get some extra stuff done that is desperatly needed, but for the most part, whenever I’m bored and I can’t think of anything to do or I’m just depressed about something, I just take a nap for a few hours, causing me to kill a few hours or just making me feel better.
Well, I think it would only be really cool if eventually one or two of my friends didn’t have to sleep anymore, either. I could see getting suddenly bored/lonely at 3am and wanting to call or IM someone … so either they don’t need to sleep, or they need to move to Hawaii or something. 
I have a feeling I’d spend the time doing more of what I do now:[ul][li]putzing around online[/li][li]working on getting a slew of home videos transferred to DVD[/li][li]playing the piano[/li][li]reading[/li][li]watching TV/movies[/li][li]doing stuff around the house (like deciding to organize my files … talk about a time-killer!)[/li][li]doing homework (like I’m supposed to be doing right now)[/ul][/li]I’d love it if I were seeing someone, but again only if he didn’t need sleep, either. More time for sex is always good.
I like to think that I’d use the time to exercise or learn how to cook or become fluent in French or something, but really we’re only talking about an extra 6-7 hours a day. There’s way too much unproductive stuff to do before I get to the productive stuff.
I would become a god at certain computer games…
Nancy Kress wrote an interesting trilogy based on that premise. Actually, the first book, Beggars in Spain is the strongest.
Well, you would need two jobs to pay for the double life - twice the food, twice the utility bills, twice the car usage and gas re-fills, twice the clothes…you might save some money on bedding and pillows and mattresses, but you probably still want that bed for, uh, other uses.
Otherwise you will be with your SO/family an additional 8 hours per day - this may or may not be a good thing.
Perhaps more people would work nights and stay at home in the daytime to go outside more. I think that would be a good thing.
Could watch all three LOTR films in the expanded version and still have time to shower and get to work punctually. Plus you could watch television 16 hours a day if you wanted to - probably a bad thing.
More time to read and exercise, but let’s be honest - is lack of time the reason you aren’t reading more and exercising more? But at least that would take the lack of time excuse off the table and that would be a good thing.
But all in all, I think I will still need some time to shut the door and be by myself in silence. I don’t think I could handle 24 hour sensory overload, day in and day out.
I might not be tired, but don’t put a gun anywhere near me after about day 14.
Not at all. The biggest expense is usually housing; that expense wouldn’t be affected. The largest component of utility bills (by far) is typically heating and cooling; that wouldn’t be affected either. You wouldn’t need twice the food–you’re being active an additional 1/3 of the day, so you’d need less then 1/3 more calories. Additional transportation expenses would only be an issue if you did, in fact, take another job that involved a serious commute and that job was that distance from both your house and your first job.
What would I do?
I’d start funding all the groups that would fight the inevitable “The 16 hour workday is now standard” legislation that you just know would get passed in congress.
I’d take it in a second. I can only imagine all the stuff I’d get done.
Exercise, read, get a Masters in Public Policy, volunteer for social-political causes, work more, spend more time with friends and family.
Without creating a big hijack, what impact would this have on the labor market? I can imagine employers wanting to expand the minimum work-day. I can also imagine people who are willing to work extra long hours pushing those who aren’t so keen on working all the time out of management jobs.
Thinking alike…
Contrapuntal: Nice book, I might have to look into getting my hands on a copy of that, looks like they have a copy there on Amazon for 53 cents!
I wouldn’t say that having 6-8 more hours a day would double your day, but I suppose much of our thoughts and such are focused on the end of the night as we do things that help us wind down. So some people would spend double on food and such, but I would probably only spend about 30% more. 
Interestingly, I think if something like this came up, people would eventually be forced to use these, to keep up with an economy that jumps by nearly double ( 16 hour days instead of 8), so it would become necessary to maintain a cost of living.
I really would like to get into Neurophysiology type of research, and may make the jump from biochem undergrad major, to a graduate in Physiology. Working on a project like this would definately rewarding, or discovering the mechanism by which children’s brains are so plastic and able to learn at such a rapid pace, so that one can artifically induce a plastic state in adults to enhance learning or (more importantly), cure those with developmental disorders like autism.
As for the OP: I would definately do it as well. I think some recreational sleeping would be in order, but for the most part I resent having to spend so much time in bed, when I could be doing something productive.
Recreational sleep … interesting. Do you think people would sleep if they didn’t need to? I mean, I know that oversleeping and sleeping out of boredom happen now, but sleep is still a big part of being human. If we no longer needed it, and almost everyone had stopped doing it, do you think there would be recreational sleeping? Would we be able to truly sleep without the biological and psychological needs to?
I enjoy sleeping. I would not use it.
Sure, sometimes sleeping is fun, dreams are pretty cool sometimes. If the no sleep pill or technique is skipped for a day, you could probably sleep, assuming the pill needs to be taken every day of course.
I would not use it, I like the away time.
SEX!!!
Well, if I had that machine, I’d use my time to either study for school or read. Because God knows that I barely scrape by with just-barely-enough sleep everyday because of school.
Hell no, I like my sleep thank you very much.
Ok, but that doesn’t really answer my question … which is probably deeper than you intended this thread to get, anyway.
I was going to ask if we would have the option of sleeping if we wanted.
I’d probably just do more of the stuff I do now. I would be twice as unproductive!