I wish I had time . . .

[Watcher55]

. . . to develop this into a story.

Marine mammals such as dolphins and whales manage to sleep without drowning, because only half their brain sleeps, while the other half stays awake and handles the breathing and swimming chores. The two hemispheres of their brains work totally independently. For 8 hours, the entire brain is awake. The left side then sleeps for 8 hours. When it wakes up, the right side sleeps for 8 hours. Thus, the marine mammals get 8 hours of sleep without ever having to stop physically.

What if we could do that?

[Sommer Leigh]

This is a very interesting idea especially when you consider all the personality traits and skills associated with the different sides of the brain. How different a person would you be when the different sides are asleep? What would society look like if we never really had a sleep schedule anymore? Would there be some skills you just couldn't do well when one half is asleep? How would we schedule our time when we could be productive (maybe in different ways) 24/7?


I come up with cool ideas all the time and I know I'll never have time to pursue them. It breaks my heart a little and part of me wants to run out and find someone who can take care of the idea and love it.

[Watcher55]

There would have to be laws to prevent operating machinery/ driving while the left brain is asleep.

[Sommer Leigh]

I would imagine life would have to become highly routine and scheduled since your abilities would be severely hampered depending on which side of the brain was asleep, but certain abilities could theoretically become uninhibited during their "wake" stage. So if instead of sleeping for 8 hours a day, perhaps everyone has 8 hours with which they must schedule specific types of activities. So for example, the right hemisphere controls intonation so an already skilled singer might become transcendent during their 4 hours of left brain sleep.

You could come at the story from the point of view of a child or teenager of the first generation where this anomaly of left brain/right brain sleep function has become more widespread and the child/teenager is growing up in a world where her parents must sleep for 8 hours while she does not, where she is productive 24 hours a day and that during the 4 hours her right brain is asleep she has trouble speaking her thoughts or completing certain skills quickly and when her left brain is asleep she has poor memory/fact recall but has intense, vivid day dreams and leaps of creative genius she is later unable to reproduce. You could follow as a society tries to adjust to these almost alien children and parents who have to learn a new way of communicating.

I think it would be a fascinating read. I would imagine the research into right brain/left brain theories, psychology, and neurology would be pretty intense though.

[Claudie]

I think it would be a fascinating read. I would imagine the research into right brain/left brain theories, psychology, and neurology would be pretty intense though.

I would be up for that kind of research anytime. I adore Neurobiology. ^^

But, yeah, that's an awesome discovery, Watcher. It just stinks of a fascinating story!

[Watcher55]

Would polygamy be the rule of the day and how confusing would that be since everyone would have three personalities?

"Is that you dear?"
"No. She's sleeping. Now get out of my room."

[Sommer Leigh]

From what little I remember from my college psych classes, brain damage that only effects one side of the brain doesn't necessarily mean all functions associated with that side of the brain are damaged - most functions cross both sides, it's just one side tends to be a primary for different functions. Also, when brain damage occurs only on one side, the other side, particularly in younger patients, can sometimes over compenstate and "take on" the role the other side used to have. However, these functions are no longer very efficient and delays between deciding to do something and actually doing them can be noticable.

So if during the 8 hours when each side of the brain is taking turns sleeping, would we act more like computers with a lag? So a question is asked and the brain takes several seconds to process the information before the person can answer. I imagine it like talking to a robot as it computes.

[Watcher55]

From what little I remember from my college psych classes, brain damage that only effects one side of the brain doesn't necessarily mean all functions associated with that side of the brain are damaged - most functions cross both sides, it's just one side tends to be a primary for different functions. Also, when brain damage occurs only on one side, the other side, particularly in younger patients, can sometimes over compenstate and "take on" the role the other side used to have. However, these functions are no longer very efficient and delays between deciding to do something and actually doing them can be noticable.

So if during the 8 hours when each side of the brain is taking turns sleeping, would we act more like computers with a lag? So a question is asked and the brain takes several seconds to process the information before the person can answer. I imagine it like talking to a robot as it computes.

That makes more sense. A third of the time communication would be dominated (not ruled) by words and analytic thinking, a third of the time it would be dominated by images and concepts. The other third communication would be more holistic.

I don't know maybe a society of people who create wonderous things because they are able to collaborate with themselves?

[Sommer Leigh]

Maybe we'd discover that when both sides of the brain are active we are less than we could be because one side of the brain will always inhibit the other in some way depending on where personality traits are stored. I wonder if society would have to get on a chemically induced schedule where everyone's left side/right side is sleeping at the same time.

Otherwise it could be chaos!!!

[Watcher55]

Perhaps the Clatch starts toying with the idea of building teams that are on synchronized schedules in order to maximize efficiency and
Unleash Hell on Earth?
Create the instrument of their own destruction and the teams set up an oligarchy?
?