what is the purpose of setting off on your own on an SMP server anyway?
In many high-tech mods you won't get anywhere unless you leave your world running day and night, and it's easier to do that on a server than on your own computer.
Then download Minecraft Server, run it, run Minecraft and connect to localhost in place of the IP. You will achieve the same result. Or use /time add [insert a couple thousands here]. Using someone else's computing power and time (for server maintenance) to let you play what is essentially SSP is cheap.
First, /time doesn't really work like that, and second, people's computers are generally not always switched on, and third, SMP gives a sense of community that can't be reproduced on SSP, whether you're playing hermit or not.
Well, what is the waiting for in the cases you mention? In a mod I used, /time took care of the waiting time. Do you mean things like auto-mining machinery?
@People's computers not always being on: you need to have an always-on computer, the question is, is it yours or someone else's computer that is left running, and whose power is being consumed for that.
@Sense of community: OK, if you say so. If it does that for you, I can understand that, although it does not work like that for me. I need physical (well, virtual-physical) or at least noticeable presence of other players (this is, see them affecting the surroundings).
Fourth: Minecraft doesn't leave chunks loaded normally if nobody is around, and many servers disable or restrict chunk loading blocks because it is a huge server drain.
Wouldn't that be an argument against being a hermit? If you set off on your own to a distant land, when you log off the chunk is not loaded, so there's no difference. Or am I misunderstanding the way it works?