An article in NewScientist from a whiles back details society’s progression towards 24-hour alertness, how it’s happening, what it means. (Not that anybody knows, exactly.)
We seem to be moving inescapably towards a society where sleep and wakefulness are available if not on demand then at least on request. It’s not surprising, then, that many sleep researchers have nagging worries about the long-term impact of millions of us using drugs to override the natural sleep-wake cycle.
I’m assuming some kind of twist will emerge, like that place we dream about’s the one that matters, and not the one in which we spend wakefulness. And by assuming I mean not at all, though I’ve been wrong before.
(NewScientist: “Get ready for 24-hour living,” by Graham Lawton [Feb 18, 2006])