4 ms·

Indeed it's not evidence to the contrary. How about leaving the question open until proper research has been done? The fact that there are anecdotal reports of

by zyfo 15y ago

Indeed it's not evidence to the contrary. How about leaving the question open until proper research has been done? The fact that there are anecdotal reports of people sleeping polyphasically should at the very least hint at the possibility of it working, rather than, as Wozniak takes it, dismiss it with what's in essence a very non-scientific approach. To me it seems obvious that Wozniak has a clear agenda with the article considering his general advocacy of free running sleep as the Only Path.

wbeaty 15y ago
Exactly. Pseudoscience has two sides: emotion-based mindless acceptance, and emotion-based mindless rejection. Wozniak's hotheaded web article demonstrates the latter type. And the term "Anecdotal evidence" is often used as smear word to ridicule what otherwise would be called direct observation. It's an old dishonest politician ploy: if you can't rebut observations, try to discredit the observer. In my own case I found (during school days, cramming for finals) that I'd fall into a weird fast-cycling sleep schedule with no hours-long sleeps and no apparent sleep debt over a term of weeks. I suspect that conventional sleep research would label this insomnia: needing constant catnaps of 5-30min duration, and complete inability to sleep nights. Most important: it took many days before the fast-cycling appeared, and once this rhythm took hold, no alarm clock was needed. When I required a nap, extreme grogginess came on suddenly and I almost had no choice. Immediate dreaming as soon as my eyes were closed. ~10 minutes later, bam, I'd suddenly wake up fully with no grogginess. Hours later the cycle would repeat. Also it took me days/weeks to escape it and regain the ability to sleep for more than a half hour. I found that strange mental effects did eventually appear, but only after many weeks. This wasn't 'sleep debt,' more like mild sleep deprivation psychosis.

by zyfo 15y ago

wbeaty 15y ago

Exactly. Pseudoscience has two sides: emotion-based mindless acceptance, and emotion-based mindless rejection. Wozniak's hotheaded web article demonstrates the latter type. And the term "Anecdotal evidence" is often used as smear word to ridicule what otherwise would be called direct observation. It's an old dishonest politician ploy: if you can't rebut observations, try to discredit the observer. In my own case I found (during school days, cramming for finals) that I'd fall into a weird fast-cycling sleep schedule with no hours-long sleeps and no apparent sleep debt over a term of weeks. I suspect that conventional sleep research would label this insomnia: needing constant catnaps of 5-30min duration, and complete inability to sleep nights. Most important: it took many days before the fast-cycling appeared, and once this rhythm took hold, no alarm clock was needed. When I required a nap, extreme grogginess came on suddenly and I almost had no choice. Immediate dreaming as soon as my eyes were closed. ~10 minutes later, bam, I'd suddenly wake up fully with no grogginess. Hours later the cycle would repeat. Also it took me days/weeks to escape it and regain the ability to sleep for more than a half hour. I found that strange mental effects did eventually appear, but only after many weeks. This wasn't 'sleep debt,' more like mild sleep deprivation psychosis.