“Sleep is for the weak.”
This expression is often tossed around jokingly. However, some effective altruists believe there is a moral imperative to get the human race to sleep less, in part to increase economic output. This idea has gained some traction in EA circles, and there’s even been some funding to explore the idea more.
“We know the genes for ‘short sleepers’ (5 hours instead of 8, no bad side effects); using embryo gene editing, newborns could have these as default setting. Would increase effective human lifespan by ~20%. Seems like a clear EA cause area,” Nabeel Qureshi, a former AI scientist at Palantir, tweeted earlier this year. “Of course, I’m sure ‘bioethicists’ will rationally consider the costs and benefits here. Certainly they won’t be too risk-averse, can’t imagine that happening.”
Click for the full article at Vice
