I’ve been doing a lot of research into sleeping, dreams and other such nightly episodes for one of my stories, and I came across this intriguing article.
Apparently this study found that by using a electromagnetic wand to zap certain parts of the brain with magnetic energy, they can switch on certain sleep phases at will–such as deep, non-REM (or non-dreaming, as some might interpret it) sleep. The study is still in the early phase, and still very experimental. But they raised the possibility that with this device, one could potentially induce a deeper, artificial and more satisfying mode of sleep than what one might naturally experience. If you experienced this, you might even be able to cut that “8 recommended hours of sleep a night” in half.
So how could you adapt this device into a story? A portable wand that sends people to sleep at the push of a button? Something that people use at home to put themselves into some kind of artificial stasis or hibernation? What if they used this on criminals, or people who are extraneous to society, linking them to an IV and putting them in a constant dream state so they don’t use up too many resources? What will happen when we are able to control our waking and sleeping hours at will?
Is this a case of Because-We-Can-We-Should? Or do you see this as having some beneficial applications, like the treatment of depression, or curing of insomnia?
I see that smile.