Sleeping is a waste of time. Seriously. Why would you want to spend a third of your life unconscious? It’s crazy! Think about all the extra stuff you’d get done if you weren’t biologically obliged to pass out once a day.
Something needs to be done. I say, we need to get scientists working on a cure for sleep. It’s a vile affliction and should be stamped out. Like polio. Or ingrown toe nails.
Do you think sleep should be cured? What would you do with the extra time? What weird and wonderful ways can you come up with to cure sleep? What would we do with all the spare bedrooms? How do you plan to stop Big Slumber from buying up the sleep-curing technology to protect their lucrative pillow profits?
#1 by Marc at October 9th, 2009
Staying awake while sobering up and having a hangover is a scary thought. Sleep is good hopefully it will never be cured.
#2 by Colin H at October 9th, 2009
I don’t think we should cure sleep. I would miss dreaming. Dreaming is one of my favourite hobbies. Without sleep I would be forced to confront the mundanity of the real world 24/7, which would tip me over the edge of my already precarious sanity.
Keep Sleep!
#3 by Red Celt at October 9th, 2009
I concur. When I first realised how much of our precious time was wasted in sleep, I started resenting it… staying up later and later at night and sometimes not going to sleep at all. I ended up paying for it at the weekends, mind… but I’m pretty sure that I’m well overdrawn at the sleep bank.
One option wrt abolishing sleep – quite literally a half-way house – would be to do what flamingos do. Half the brain goes to sleep (and that corresponding half of the body) at a time. So we could take it in shifts… never being truly asleep. Just think, we could spend 8 hours being really artistic, crafting pottery and paintings etc. Then we could spend 8 hours being really logical and numerical… e.g. doing the accounting for our new-found crafting business.
Of course, we’d have to learn to use a potter’s wheel (and a calculator) with only 1 hand. And 1 foot.
OK, so my master plan needs some work.
#4 by Hayley at October 9th, 2009
Without sleep we’d end up working… like… 60 hours a week to earn the money that we’d need to pay for the extra we spent during the hours that we should be asleep but aren’t.
Sleep is good. Sleep is our friend.
#5 by Michael at October 10th, 2009
The older one gets the less sleep one needs. I find myself getting up at the same time at the weekend as during the working week. What do I do with the extra time? Well you’re reading some now.
Imagine getting back from your 12 hour stint at work. Then going out to the pub or badminton practice. Then get back 6 hours later just in time to watch television before your next meal or blogging on the interwebs. At what point would you divide the days up? There could be a set time for drinking beer in the pub, as a daily divisor. Newsreaders would have to end their bulletins with “and remember-have a good drink and looking for free porn on the internet”, (weatherman:”And its a Good Drink from me also”). Can you see this working?
I would use the extra time to carry on building my devices which I am going to use to take over the world. At the moment my soldering iron has burnt out-will the electronic shop be open 24 hours? I would like that.
There would no longer be an irrational fear of the dark-cause no-one would have those waking visions of ghosts or aliens.
Extra time could mean that:
We could develop really good high power lasers to buy from the sweetshop and invent a way of making machines which could read people’s minds.
Mind you these could be some of the reasons why I live on my own.
#6 by Mr Eldridge at October 11th, 2009
Don’t think sleep should be cured. We would just end up having the working week redefined as opposed to having more free time. I probably wouldn’t be able to do anything with the extra time saved because I would have a stress induced heart attack after the first month. Sleep for me is the only real part of the day I get to relax and I am thankful for it, as Colin says its one of my favourite hobbies
Looking for a cure for sleep?? There is one already as anyone involved with computers will tell you. Its easy to stay awake tapping away at the keyboard as the hours roll by without breaking so much as a yawn. On the flip side sit me in front of the TV and I will be away with the fairies 10 minutes after placing my ass on the couch. I am sure this is more to do with the current state of television and its distinct lack of “interesting” programming, but thats a whole other subject beyond the scope of this question. I am sure the answer will ultimately lie with technology, and some lucky bugger will get rich quick of the item that will eventually make our lives more miserable as a result. Call me a cynic if you will
–Mr H–
#7 by Danny at October 13th, 2009
I would spend my 8 hours a day slapping Derek Akorah! much better than sleep!
#8 by Andy at October 15th, 2009
I would spend my time jostling for position with @Danny
#9 by Dave Hughes at October 15th, 2009
Sleep definitely need to be cured. At the moment I reckon I need 9 days in the week to be able to have a full day off. If I had the 8 hours per day back I could go straight on to a 4 day week and spend the other 3 days doing things that actually matter like fighting the woo out there and hitting politicians with sticks.
DtD
Oh and I’m with you on the food thing too.
What an annoyance. It’s fuel. Why can’t I do it for 3 minutes once a week the same way as I fuel the car ?