I dunno, I've always wanted to do more with my time than I am able to. I want to do a bang up job at work, but still have time left over to learn an instrument, practice photography, and maybe learn a new language. There just aren't enough hours in a day to get all of this done.
If there was a good-enough guarantee against unforeseen side effects, I'd be all over these drugs. I'm non-religious, so in my view, the more I can get done before I bite it the better. If I could remove my need for sleep entirely without side effect, you can bet your ass I will.
> "but continuous pointless activity is a thing I strongly resent."
So... wanking and writing patches is an extremely purposeful activity? More so than studying history or whatever the hell else people do while hopped up on neuroenhancers?
It isn't an activity. It's leisure. Leisure is cool. Friends suggest friends do leisure.
Hobbies are fine but sleep is a very good thing indeed.
And having three hobbies at once means low efficiency and mediocre results.
Take e.g. language. Odds are against you. You don't have people speaking that language around all the time. You're not surrounded by texts in that language. You do boring homework and it's like you're carrying water in a sieve.
I learned English by not learning it. I had to read various texts because that's how you program, surf the web and play games, and eventually I could read in English at the same speed as in my native tongue.
Recently I tried to learn Korean and it's now on hold. I had a half year of courses and some audio lessons, but I lack discipline and therefore my progress is zero.
As for history: if it's a map of dates to event descriptions then it's a pretty boring thing indeed, and if it's a mental model of how people lived NNN years ago then you can't build it by busy loop studying. You have to think, contemplate and compare a lot. Watching Rome series with your wife gets you more in your long term memory than a bookful of words and also helps your personal life.
> "And having three hobbies at once means low efficiency and mediocre results."
Only because you don't have the time to do all of them justice. But imagine if you could create the time.
Sleep is only important in our present state - if there was a way to remove the need for sleep, then it becomes pretty pointless. I would very willingly remove the need to sleep - it's not as if I derive some kind of enjoyment from it besides feeling rested. If I can be rested and ready-to-go without sleep, all the better.
> "You have to think, contemplate and compare a lot. Watching Rome series with your wife gets you more in your long term memory than a bookful of words and also helps your personal life."
Yes, and how much extra contemplation, research, and comparison can you achieve if you took your 7-8 hours of sleep each night and dedicated them to study? What if, instead of going to work in the day time, you work during the night and spend your days going out there and doing feet-on-ground research on a historical topic?
As a coder, the prospect of removing sleep entirely is extremely tantalizing. Much of my work can be done in the middle of the night, and having days completely free opens up limitless opportunities for personal growth.
If I could create active time I'd put it all in my currently active occupation, and when I'm done with one occupation I'd switch. One at a time is good enough for me.
If you had more time in a day, how is it different from having more days?
Why do you think that you don't contemplate while sleeping or being about to? I do, a lot.
If you would not sleep it means dropping a vital link in your information processing chain.
If there was a good-enough guarantee against unforeseen side effects, I'd be all over these drugs. I'm non-religious, so in my view, the more I can get done before I bite it the better. If I could remove my need for sleep entirely without side effect, you can bet your ass I will.
> "but continuous pointless activity is a thing I strongly resent."
So... wanking and writing patches is an extremely purposeful activity? More so than studying history or whatever the hell else people do while hopped up on neuroenhancers?