Every government or public institution and every business that is above a certain tax bracket should be legally required to stay open 24 hours a day. This would create more jobs as there are now more shifts to fill.
There would be more business during those hours because of all the new people that will be living their life at night so it won't be a waste of wages. Parents living their life at night will naturally choose to have their children go to school during those hours. We won't be lumping everyone together in one 8 hour time period therefore we will have smaller classes with a better student to teacher ratio which is more conducive to learning. There will be fewer traffic jams as highway congestion practically disappears since not everybody is trying to get to work / lunch / home at the same times. This is better for the environment as commutes will be shorter with less time a car is spending burning fossil fuels. That also means less wear and tear on the individual vehicles which will save the commuters even more money on general upkeep.
There will be far fewer traffic accidents for the same reasons which saves everyone in lives and money. You wouldn't have to stand in line at the post office for EVER since people can choose any time to go. There would be less crime at night. Crime doesn't happen more often at night because it's dark, it happens more often because there are fewer people around so you're more likely to get away with it. Change that and crime goes down. Crime is also likely to go down as unemployment drops because of the millions of new jobs created. A long time ago, it made sense for most of us to go to bed at night. We couldn't see at night and it was dangerous.
Well, we've invented the light bulb and killed off most of our natural predators. I think it's time for us to come out into the moonlight and Burns brand perpetual twilight.
I don't think that's an entirely accurate statement for everyone but I can only combat it with statements about myself, so we'll just say that's true. Even so, without recreating daylight, shouldn't the opposite eventually become true for a segment of the population? Of course, I know things like this take a long time but, if the opposite is biologically true for some of us and not just myself there would be more opportunity for us to thrive economically and socially living our lives at night. It could be that being able to lead fulfilling lives makes us happier and more socially successful, more likely to find mates and have children, pass that anomaly on to future generations, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea. I think it's really interesting and I've never actually considered it before. I'm just saying there are a couple big obstacles to tackle before we can reach that point. The brain has a structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which interprets the light that comes into the eyes. It uses this information to release hormones like melatonin which cause drowsiness and sleep. It is true that you could block out light during the day and receive artificial light at night, but it has been shown that disruption of Circadian rhythm can cause metabolic problems in humans (ex: http://edrv.endojournals.org/content/31/1/1.long). But because this rhythm is just a 24 hour cycle, it would seem possible to have it completely reversed. It would be interesting to see the results of something like that.
Would crime actually go down, or would crime just be more dispersed throughout the day?
Well considering that crime rises when, among other things, unemployment increases and that most of the theft and violence are crimes of opportunity then I would think that creating millions of jobs and having more people being out and about during the night would certainly accomplish that.
I can see where you're coming from. It's a very interesting concept and I think it'd make a great short story or film. I'd like to see how others view the topic, seeing as not only is it controversial, but so unfamiliar of a topic.