We don't need any stinking sleep

Why do we need to sleep? Why can't I just function without taking a break for hours at a time? I don't get it. I reach that certain point during the day where my eyes feel heavy and the only thing I want to do is lay down to sleep. We spend approximately one-third of our life asleep(don't hold me to that figure, my wife was looking at it.) What a waste of time. I've been awake once for at least 36 hours and I can remember just how badly I wanted to lay down. Those were dreadful hours, especially when I had to drive a HumVee in a convoy. At one point, I swerved trying avoid a port-a-pody that magically appeared in the middle of the road. I can only imagine how damaging no sleep can be on a person. However, that wouldn't stop me from volunteering to stay awake for as long as I could for a scientific study. Is it possible to break the cycle of sleep? What I mean by that is, if I stay awake long enough, will I reach the point where my body doesn't try to shut down for sleep and therefore, I can stay up forever? That would be awesome. I could accomplish so much if I didn't have to sleep.