How to control dreams and use them to solve problems | Jim Keller and Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: • Jim Keller: The Future...
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GUEST BIO:
Jim Keller is a legendary microprocessor engineer, previously at AMD, Apple, Tesla, Intel, and now Tenstorrent.
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[@shibafujiwatches2808]

How to control your dreams. 1) 5 times a day in various locations ask yourself “am I in a dream?” and challenge your surroundings - Is this my home? Is everything normal? Etc 2) After a period of time you will ask yourself the same question in a dream “am I in a dream, is everything normal?” At which point you’ll know you’re dreaming as your surroundings will not be as they should. Perhaps a famous person is there or you’re in a place you don’t know and so on. 3) Once you’re aware you are in a dream look at your hands. They will be blurry but should become focused as you stare at them after a few seconds. After this your whole dream will become clearer. For most people you should see results within a month.

[@husseinali5072]

Wtf

[@conorquigley8100]

Have you found success using this method? And what do you explore in your dreams? I'm quite interested to try this!

[@reculture]

Yep, legit technique. Tho i used watch to train myself for reality check

[@conorquigley8100]

@@PLAYERSLAYER_22 Same experience here.

[@Ahrths]

this used to happen me but it was me being awake thinking i was asleep becasue it was like the world around me stopped and i had to do reality checks like trying to breathe with my nose blocked or pinch myself it was fucking weird

[@2015shamrocks]

“Is it possible to learn such a power?” Palpatine: “not from a Jedi”

[@alexandersideris]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@NoobishAlpha]

Ur good Ahahahah

[@aliceneely2647]

Yes it is possible.

[@user-ch1vu8bk2k]

yes! it can be very intimidating I've started doing this 6 years ago when I realized I was awake when I was "asleep" my advice don't be scared it's very rejuvenating to the body.

[@Nfl360]

That initial feeling of becoming aware you're dreaming while still in it is a crazy experience. Stays with you for days

[@seatato4468]

Iv only ever been able to control a dream for about 10 seconds and It wasn't really that crazy for me I just remembered running up a street that looked like san fran (even tho I live in oh) from a bear then all the sudden realized I was in a dream stopped running turned around and just made the bear disappear it was pretty crazy tho

[@MattGarcyaDC]

Sounds lowkey scary

[@forthehomies7043]

Especially the ones where you're getting sucked off by a baddie. Love those

[@andreicutur4793]

Jesus, the comment section is a real goldmine. Big thanks to all sharing their knowledge and suggestions and to you, Lex for creating this community around these amazing interviews. I've discovered your channel when you were at the beginning and remember your were so nervous. Things have changed so much since then. I admire your curiosity and openness and your humility and kindness are the cherry on top for me. You're a true inspiration. Thank you and thanks to all the good people out there!

[@Ziiyad]

Brooooo im freaking out rn, i just finished this show about lucid dreaming and astral projection on Netflix... And literally while watching the end credits this notification popped up. (The show is called Behind Her Eyes )

[@Mattsx03]

And ur the top comment. BROOOOOOOOOOO.

[@Ahrths]

be careful of astral projection...

[@danielhendrix8397]

Dude how crazy was that fuckin show, I can’t get over it

[@andrewashmore8000]

was super interesting on many angles.

[@skylake9779]

it happened with me, I was stuck in php server code, I saw solution in my dream I woke up and start typing same code, and it does works

[@skylake9779]

@@SanjaySingh-qf4tk a solution

[@kellymc3020]

I enjoyed this podcast with Jim Keller a lot, hearing the clips reminds me I personally need to hear Lex’s interviews at lest twice (or more) to get all of the magic they contain ❤️🙏🏼😘💋

[@thesleephustle7186]

Lucid Dreaming is incredible! A skill everyone can learn with practice. I have had many Lucid Dreams over the years and others should be able to experience the amazement as well.

[@thesleephustle7186]

@@bwill6025 great tips ! I also like to use the power of strong suggestion. Before bed set a powerful intention for you to remember more of your dreams. That possibly could help spark some dream memories for someone’s journal. ✌️

[@denniskatinas]

Nothing fun? Let me tell you about a “fun” dream I had about 4 times now. I meet a awesome girl, get to talk to her, date here, spend over a month with her falling deeply in love, like loving here, but also still with that sense of young love, having fallen in love just a short while ago, both young love and deep love, like knowing for the first time you want to spend your life with someone. And just when I look forward spending my life with her, I wake up. Its like loosing the love of your life at that point and I know I’ll never see her again. It happend 4 times with different girls and every time it takes days, if not weeks to overcome that loss. Its intense. I also have repeating dreams that come back over a lifetime, like standing in a total black space, not seeing but sensing another entity there, slowly coming closer, sudenly pushing me backward and pushing me on the floor, really fast, without pain, but with huge force. So many weird dreams. Dream space and pre and post dream spaces are stunning and usefull.

[@baliyachtservices7505]

same

[@chrismacleod9326]

Apparently you need a real girlfriend…

[@gerrylavelle8433]

I find that where I am geophysically -- has a big-time influence in my dreams.

[@jongardner90]

Last thing I’d want to do in a lucid dream is work. I would be flying around on an iron clad unicorn shooting laser beams at enemy ufos.

[@CookieDeelite]

It depends on your definition of work. I have painted pictures and drawn drawings, composed poetry, or watched movies or plays (stories within stories) in dreams, Unfortunately, I usually only remember fragments of them when I wake up.

[@bollvigblack]

why UFO as a enemy ...

[@nedi1150]

@@bollvigblack Was just about to ask that very question...if you were in full control...why would you create an enemy of any sort...

[@semtex6412]

"shooting laser beams at enemy ufos" man, that still sounds like work

[@bonganimazibuko1901]

You dream everyday Lex. Even when you think you dont dream.

[@Paradys8]

Such an Amazing video. Thank you very much 👌🏻🙏

[@rosalineslon6910]

I need this later on going to see it thank you

[@stopallwarwithbubblebots5815]

Same. Dreams have always intrigued me. Every morning I google Dream meanings and somehow they do make sense.

[@atanugayen3030]

For anyone looking to understand and master Lucid Dreaming, techiniques, theory, practice, etc. the following book is an absolute goldmine: The Ultimate Lucid Dreamer’s Manual: From Basics to Beyond By Marc VanDeKeere

[@M419.99]

For a guy talking about lucid dreaming, Keller is chill af, his attitude is almost like "working in dreams hehe, who doesn't?"

[@Paradys8]

Very Interesting subject 👍🏻

[@thisbridgehascables]

I’ve found many prep conditions for controlling dreams. Also once you are aware you’re dreaming you must learn how to keep concentration or the dream can collapse. Something very weird I’ve discovered is, if i take a larger then recommended daily dose of vitamin C before sleep, my dreams are incredibly more vivid and much more vast. I also have long periods of not dreaming well, the dreams structure rapidly changes and make it harder to recall.

[@ianforeverlucid]

Completely agree, I teach people how to lucid dream consistently. Its great for problem solving and overcoming trauma

[@anhudy]

Does anyone know which book he's speaking about?

[@nancyrobertson9256]

Last year I tried to have lucid dreams for several months. The closest I came to it was watching Fred Astaire dance the tango with Ginger Rogers. But as soon as I realized I was dreaming, I felt myself waking up. I tried to hang onto the dream, but I just couldn't stay asleep.

[@justinoneill2837]

I went to sleep many times thinking about a problem and waking up with a solution. I'm a JavaScript developer and in the beginning when I was really trying to learn about it, I was struggling quite a bit.. And there was this one time that I went to sleep thinking about it so hard I remember in the dream that I just understood it all so easily. It all just made perfect sense. Since then, things have just kind of been easier in the development world. Pretty cool trick

[@SanjaySingh-qf4tk]

how do you take problem to dreamy state

[@justinoneill2837]

@@SanjaySingh-qf4tk it's almost like a super focus/meditative state on the problem. Something that you think about so hard it's the only thing you're thinking about..and if you're that focused in on it you'll eventually dream about it. It doesn't happen often..but when it does it's pretty bad ass!

[@SanjaySingh-qf4tk]

So what an all can you so can you learn something new

[@foreveryactionthereisacons1683]

I was just talking about this today. Lucid dreaming is fun most of the time...

[@josh9963]

go lex

[@slightlygruff]

Can you link the book he talks about

[@DoGmAnGuY1758]

I think I've been doing what he talks about for years. I mostly use dream control techniques (which tend to be hard to explain in words) to just have awesome fights in my dreams and use awesomely fantastical ways of solving problems, like turning time backwards to bring back to life somebody who I just saw die, or pulling on a string to turn it from night to day time. It takes practice to not wake up when you're making things happen and of course practice to just become Lucid in the first place, but I feel I've gotten a good return on my effort investment after I got the hang of it and it became something I do alongside everything else. Just being Lucid to watch your dreams like a movie can be a fun time too.

[@SanjaySingh-qf4tk]

Can you explain your technique

[@matthewm3869]

I believe I heard Stephen King (someone correct me if they know I'm wrong) talk recently about how some of his prep for writing stories was to dream them, the same fashion Jim Keller is talking about. He would just think of his book ideas while prepping for bed and falling asleep, enter his world and that would help him create his stories. Fascinating stuff.

[@SF-fb6lv]

It's high time we learn to use our minds to their fullest extent. Just as shortly after birth, we learn to control our limbs, I believe we can learn to control the seemingly random fleeting thoughts in our brains. Personally, I see dreams, meditation, and simple concentration, as being cut from the same cloth. Dreams are very useful for me to gauge my emotional state (how overwhelmed I am at work for instance), and also to create interesting architectural and design ideas. Lucid dreams are an absolute blast too, like mini vacations. It is reasonable that eventually technology will allow us to use our thoughts to communicate to machines (such as writing emails by thought, in the work environment), so in my opinion, it will behoove use to get started with marshalling our spastic thoughts into powerful, coherent actions, as soon as possible, as individuals, and as a species.

[@saraandstuartshannon2160]

I could control my dreams even since I was a kid. I could pick them, or change their outcome. That’s very useful skill during some awful nightmare, but apart from that, why control it? Why not just “go with the flow”. Let’s mind go on his free range path...

[@xKevmachinex]

your eyes do not see, the eyes are merely the lens that your brain looks through so in a sense your brain see's not your eyes. Lucid dreaming is also similar in that you do not dream, but instead your conciousness is free from the control of your brain. The brain is like an over protective mother, she won't let her child out of her sight, and like that your brain does not let your conciousness out of its sight, lucid dreaming is like growing up and saying sorry mom its time for me to leave. Many say dream recall is important but I think dream recall is just a sign that your conciousness is reaching out and you have a gift.

[@johnhamrick88]

I use to keep a note pad next to bed and when i wake up i would write down everything i could remember dreaming about i.e people, names, colors ,places and i noticed over time i could remember more and more to a point where you start questioning whether it was a dream or did it really happen 🤔

[@_XY_]

Nice

[@alexpacheco2031]

i used to dream alot im not sure how or if could use it as a problem solver

[@psykonauta]

I think the book he is talking about is a Castaneda one

[@MrFocusification]

Lex should interview Dan Winter

[@admiralhyperspace0015]

I do a lot of cool things in my dreams. Like I love flying in my dream. Its a bit wacky and sometimes, I can't control it right. But I do weird stuff in my dreams all the time. Like arranging products ina supermarket. Parkour and replay action scenes with less physics. I actually have went to space and back too. I am very lucky I remember all of this.

[@baronvonskeltal7550]

Oh man learning how to fly in dreams has been tricky for me. Every time I start to get a grasp of it I get too excited about it and I wake up. It's been a looong time since I last tried it, though

[@josiahz21]

Flying was fun.....and terrifying when I fell. Did a space jump once too and went to a planet that looked like candy land when I was a kid and hung out with aliens. 😂

[@admiralhyperspace0015]

@@baronvonskeltal7550 just watch, a montage of superman flying before sleeping. Works for me. You might have flown but don't remember it.

[@admiralhyperspace0015]

@@josiahz21 I have had aliens but no candy lands. I don't have crisp control over flight like, I can't stop and go exactly when I want. And yeah sometimes the thrust doesn't happen. And you are falling slightly. It is scary.

[@admiralhyperspace0015]

Has anyone had dreams where you are just afraid of the scale of things? Like a scyscrapers and all?

[@immanuelcunt7296]

I'm somewhat skeptical of lucid dreaming. While it's probably useful and interesting (and good to try to do), you shouldn't do it every night. Because there's utility to seeing where the dream takes you, so you can see your unconscious weave its own path.

[@romeomarquezguzman]

Lucid dreaming is something I have tried but haven't gotten the hang of it :(

[@josiahz21]

Stare at your hands before bed. Study the lines and focus on your breathing. Not everyone is capable but worth a try.

[@efdavis]

nice to be able to dream again since ive quit smoking trees daily lol

[@TerryMartinART]

I woke up this morning, and ate some cereal, read a post about Jeremey Dwight the police impersonators trial coming up. Went back to sleep and dreamed the police was on the verge of uncovering an unknown crime I did not commit but I sure felt guilty. Worried until I woke up in fact.

[@xnow1936]

interesting

[@Poliswag7]

I have vivid dreams every night but have only lucid dreamt twice.

[@jaredlucky9990]

Title should be "Meditation and Lucid Dreams" Edit: "..| Jim Keller and Lex Fridman"

[@freegatemy]

should get this book 'The secret of the golden flower' by Carl Jung and Richard Wilhelm which is translated from 1K+ yo Chinese book on immortality

[@godblessCL]

It is not just dreams, it to empower your subconcious.

[@immarudamu4508]

Please get orgonites lex! No more nightmares!

[@tinyjungle_]

Stopped smoking marijuana after 27 years of pretty heavy use. Didn't really dream much during those years and if I did I couldn't remember any of it. Let's just say my brain is making up for lost time and it's been fairly traumatic so far.

[@Jee_FX1]

dude the same happened to me, i had to smoke again cause it was too annoying. i kept having the same dream i had when i was young, like i had nothing to make a fresh dream so it chose an old one...

[@lproof8472]

I dream several times every night. Some are nonsensical and some realistic and will actually happen in the future (sometimes years in the future.) Honestly, I hate it, and I don’t want to dream anymore.

[@yeager1888]

Lucid dreaming but be careful it can get weird out there

[@markandremy]

I feel like he’s being coy about it, sounds like The Silva Method...

[@EastCoastPhu]

Whats the inside joke @1:49? asking for myself LOL

[@keplerthe3399]

I remember a dream probably once a year Lol

[@sinki19841984]

Every time I tried I encountered demon-like entities and wake up in shock

[@findmeinthecarpet]

The trick is to let them be. Try not to run and allow the fear to wash over you, just watch and allow. This might seem challenging but try and keep with it. What follows could change your life forever. These lessons can be applied to waking life too.

[@TheAdekrijger]

I saw it first when i was about 4 years old and i remember it as a mummy standing in the doorway when i was sleep paralyzed after becoming lucid in a nightmare. I was pretty shaken as i thought the last part was to real to be just a nightmare. I didn't know about sleep paralysis at the time.

[@Klyttorius]

Keep at it and you will overcome them. I've had night terrors since childhood, but with daily meditation I was finally able to move during one where I had a shadow person on top of me. I grabbed its shoulder while excitedly smiling and said to it 'I'm stronger than you'. The trick is to smile. Get so used to smiling while awake and while asleep. Why? because on the opposite side of Fear is Excitement. They run adjacent on the same thin line. With practice, smiling and quick mental push will tip you from fear into excitement. In that state you can accomplish much, but you can also regain control to bring you back into the calm state. This works while awake, asleep and in between.

[@dfrees42]

Jim asks him why don’t you dream? Haha. Couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not

[@mystupiddiaryvlogs]

I use my dreams to think lol

[@georgegrader9038]

I've been to Mars. It's cold & v. hard to breath. Interesting place though; would be great to find some precambrian life there! Typical psychonaut stuff; no biggie.

[@brianbrian1769]

I dreamt that lex sounded sober. What a nightmare.

[@fullyfb3847]

Does anyone else here have regular lucid dreams? Or better yet, dreams where you have a near out of body experience that causes intense vibrations and it feels like there is a presence sort of invading you? Often times it is very scary and I have had this happen since I was a child. Sometimes it leaves imprints on my vision for 5 seconds or so when waking up. Anyone else? 😬 LOL

[@TerryMartinART]

Wander why I can run like a quadruped in my dreams.

[@daniel.meza.5273]

Same here.

[@josiahz21]

Duuude. Every time I try to sprint I end up galloping. Lol

[@TerryMartinART]

@@josiahz21 LoL, And probably very well too. Very natural like you always done it.

[@TerryMartinART]

@@daniel.meza.5273 Thanks, I wandered if I was the only one. another person also commented too on it.

[@josiahz21]

@@TerryMartinART flying is easier. 😂

[@nietzschesmuse]

Tell him that you drink lots of coffee right before bed and that is why you dont have dreams.

[@sageandcross3713]

😘😘😘

[@CookieDeelite]

Lex needs to learn about lucid dreaming.

[@psykonauta]

Being doing it for years now. Try our deep music for psykonauts to access the deepest parts of your psyche.

[@robertc6343]

Is he talking about lucid dreaming?

[@grunge-mb9sb]

I love ketamine lots and lots of ket

[@SilentRage5050]

you can't mention dreams and not talk about Carl Jung and archetypes

[@natronfatumallafalla1922]

Pause..slow down lex..the words arent running

[@asmosisyup2557]

usually when i become aware I'm dreaming, i become aware of reality and wake up. quite annoying.

[@segua]

Lex I’m betting a little sleep apnea and that has nothing to do with obesity. Brother you need to get this checked out.

[@gaelehodin]

This is foolish, yes you might be able to learn to control a dream but you disturb a serious brain function. I tried this when I was a teen because I thought it would be “cool” but you will regret it. Don’t screw with your sleep, it’s just so important.

[@ColoradoKid32]

Lol sounds like bullshit. Just pulled all that out of his @&!

[@maurgi17]

This is very dangerous. Do not do this. The things you thinks you see are not good.

[@medotata5356]

why not?

[@maurgi17]

@@medotata5356 you open yourself to attacks from these beings you think you are speaking with. They are fallen beings. There is nothing greater than the creator.

[@ramanmono]

@@maurgi17 What the... it is just your brain cells doing the works.

[@andrewashmore8000]

Cool conversation. Actively using dreams , so obvious but havent done so actively in 40 years , more so accidentally. Thanks Jim for a super useful life tool.