[joesmo]

This is a likely explanation for the myriad of terrible ideas and the people willing to fund them. The problem with sleep deprivation is that the person who is depriving himself of sleep oftentimes cannot see the obvious (to others) degradation in the quality of their work, thinking, and life in general. To the sleep deprived, things look like they're going well to the point that they will deny that there is any loss in quality. This degrades to the point that sleep deprivation is now a badge of honor amongst people who are cranking out worse and worse work with each day that passes.