5 ms·

If sleep is garbage collection, can I switch back to old malloc/free? So I can do it more evenly over the day? :)

by lucumo 18y ago

mechanical_fish 18y ago
Well, if this mechanism is the same in fruit flies and in humans, that implies that it's a pretty low-level kernel function. We could change the source, but it might take several hundred million years to finish compiling your new biosphere. And in the meantime the old biosphere might well eat it for lunch. Literally!
amichail 18y ago
Modern garbage collection is done more evenly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_collection_(computer_science)#Stop-the-world_vs._incremental_vs._concurrent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_collection_(computer_sc... Perhaps the brain could do something similar.
- stcredzero 18y ago
  How about switching from a dynamic late-binding brain to a much faster static typed compiled one? (Or would that just render us faster, but much less flexible and adaptable?)
- davidbnewquist 18y ago
  In software, optimizing this type of garbage collection for low pauses usually results in reduced application throughput. Evolution in general clearly does not favor "low pause" sleep patterns. However, there are anecdotes of rare people that subsist on "low pause" sleeping. Allegedly, Thomas Edison had a 24 word day and frequently cat-napped. Contrast that with Einstein who allegedly slept 10 hrs a night. For modern garbage collection systems (e.g. the JVM), there is no single setting that is best (or even acceptable) for all applications. The same is probably true for sleep patterns.
  - amichail 18y ago
    Evolution in general clearly does not favor "low pause" sleep patterns. Evolution does not consider every possibility. And when it does consider one, it doesn't necessary "implement" it well.
    - davidbnewquist 18y ago
      Well, if the genes regulating sleep patterns are half as tedious as the gc params for the 1.4.2 JVM, I wouldn't want to consider every possibility either:P
illicium 18y ago
Watch out, you might run into some nasty memory leaks
- russell 18y ago
  I get memory leaks even with nightly garbage collection, or maybe I have bugs that collect the good stuff and leave the garbage.
flankk2 18y ago
Actually, yes. It is called polyphasic sleep: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep
- pchristensen 18y ago
  One man's experience: http://www.pchristensen.com/blog/articles/category/polyphasic/ http://www.pchristensen.com/blog/articles/category/polyphasi...
- dave_au 18y ago
  I tried a 28-hour day for about a week: http://www.dbeat.com/28/ http://www.dbeat.com/28/ I'm glad I did solely because I know that if I hadn't I'd be wondering about both the 28-hour day and polyphasic sleep until I tried it, and I'd probably have more at stake if I tried it later. It was not good. I tried it in the middle of working on my PhD. I could still write code, but the quality dipped a little. My theory work stopped - the whole abstract complex thought part of my brain shut off - and it took me a while to notice. There was some digestive confusion for a while as well - the body is a pretty complex thing, and it turns out that (at least mine) really likes it's cycles. I made it through a week and a half - at least I think it was - it really throws your idea of what a day is. The abstract complex thought bit took a while to come back. It took about a month and a half to recover properly. Would not try again.

If sleep is garbage collection, can I switch back to old malloc/free? So I can do it more evenly over the day? :)

by lucumo 18y ago

If sleep is garbage collection, can I switch back to old malloc/free? So I can do it more evenly over the day? :)

Well, if this mechanism is the same in fruit flies and in humans, that implies that it's a pretty low-level kernel function. We could change the source, but it might take several hundred million years to finish compiling your new biosphere. And in the meantime the old biosphere might well eat it for lunch. Literally!

amichail 18y ago

Modern garbage collection is done more evenly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_collection_(computer_science)#Stop-the-world_vs._incremental_vs._concurrent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_collection_(computer_sc... Perhaps the brain could do something similar.

stcredzero 18y ago
How about switching from a dynamic late-binding brain to a much faster static typed compiled one? (Or would that just render us faster, but much less flexible and adaptable?)
davidbnewquist 18y ago
In software, optimizing this type of garbage collection for low pauses usually results in reduced application throughput. Evolution in general clearly does not favor "low pause" sleep patterns. However, there are anecdotes of rare people that subsist on "low pause" sleeping. Allegedly, Thomas Edison had a 24 word day and frequently cat-napped. Contrast that with Einstein who allegedly slept 10 hrs a night. For modern garbage collection systems (e.g. the JVM), there is no single setting that is best (or even acceptable) for all applications. The same is probably true for sleep patterns.
- amichail 18y ago
  Evolution in general clearly does not favor "low pause" sleep patterns. Evolution does not consider every possibility. And when it does consider one, it doesn't necessary "implement" it well.
  - davidbnewquist 18y ago
    Well, if the genes regulating sleep patterns are half as tedious as the gc params for the 1.4.2 JVM, I wouldn't want to consider every possibility either:P

illicium 18y ago

Watch out, you might run into some nasty memory leaks

russell 18y ago
I get memory leaks even with nightly garbage collection, or maybe I have bugs that collect the good stuff and leave the garbage.

flankk2 18y ago

Actually, yes. It is called polyphasic sleep: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep

pchristensen 18y ago
One man's experience: http://www.pchristensen.com/blog/articles/category/polyphasic/ http://www.pchristensen.com/blog/articles/category/polyphasi...
dave_au 18y ago
I tried a 28-hour day for about a week: http://www.dbeat.com/28/ http://www.dbeat.com/28/ I'm glad I did solely because I know that if I hadn't I'd be wondering about both the 28-hour day and polyphasic sleep until I tried it, and I'd probably have more at stake if I tried it later. It was not good. I tried it in the middle of working on my PhD. I could still write code, but the quality dipped a little. My theory work stopped - the whole abstract complex thought part of my brain shut off - and it took me a while to notice. There was some digestive confusion for a while as well - the body is a pretty complex thing, and it turns out that (at least mine) really likes it's cycles. I made it through a week and a half - at least I think it was - it really throws your idea of what a day is. The abstract complex thought bit took a while to come back. It took about a month and a half to recover properly. Would not try again.