But it seems like you'll also go nuts. If you impose a polyphasic sleep schedule on yourself, you must follow it without fail. And that means a 15-minute nap every N hours. It doesn't matter if you're watching a movie, or out with friends, or "in the flow". If you slip up, the whole sleep pattern comes crashing down. So not many people have that much discipline, for one.

But even if you do, it doesn't seem possible for a human to work 100% of the time. Each time I've tried, I simply end up wasting time rather than using it -- e.g. I'll stare at my computer screen for awhile thinking, try some minor change that doesn't work, then repeat the cycle over for a couple hours. And the next day, my work has often proved to be shoddy at best when I was forcing myself to work.

On the other hand, I've had plenty of experiences that went like: There's a bug to fix. Can't seem to fix it. Go to bed. Wake up refreshed. Spot the bug in ten minutes.

That seems pretty valuable as a time saver, so it doesn't seem wise to sacrifice your "unwind" time lightly.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound like I'm coming down on you. I'm merely trying to point out that, in the end, polyphasic sleep seems like a form of masochism -- and perhaps that's why Steve himself stopped doing it.