I have indeed heard many rumors of the military running fascinating sleep experiments. But I’ve not had much luck getting access to their results, let alone the details of methodology and such. I admit, however, that I’ve spent less time and effort looking for them than I should have. If you happen to have illuminating links, please share them!
I’d also like to note that anyone on a successful polyphasic schedule has a pretty huge comparative advantage, so if I were the leader of a polyphasic army, I might not want my opponents knowing anything more than “I hear there is evil there that does not sleep,” if even that.
this advantage is directly proportional to how many people you have on this sleep schedule. The fewer people who do it the lower the payoff, but the more people who do it the less chance you have of keeping it secret. If the army invents an advanced airplane, it can be kept secret and used rarely, but if the army invents a new kind of carbine, it’s much more valuable if ALL the soldiers have it. Polyphasic seems a lot more like the carbine than like the fighter jet.
I have indeed heard many rumors of the military running fascinating sleep experiments. But I’ve not had much luck getting access to their results, let alone the details of methodology and such. I admit, however, that I’ve spent less time and effort looking for them than I should have. If you happen to have illuminating links, please share them!
I’d also like to note that anyone on a successful polyphasic schedule has a pretty huge comparative advantage, so if I were the leader of a polyphasic army, I might not want my opponents knowing anything more than “I hear there is evil there that does not sleep,” if even that.
this advantage is directly proportional to how many people you have on this sleep schedule. The fewer people who do it the lower the payoff, but the more people who do it the less chance you have of keeping it secret. If the army invents an advanced airplane, it can be kept secret and used rarely, but if the army invents a new kind of carbine, it’s much more valuable if ALL the soldiers have it. Polyphasic seems a lot more like the carbine than like the fighter jet.
The US military did a lot of research with modafinil and amphetamines to keep pilots awake for long-haul flights.
Is that research public? If not, maybe someone could make an effective Freedom of Information request for the information?
I do not think FoI requests apply for classified military studies