What Do Our Brains Do When We're Dreaming?- with Mark Solms

[@ToxopIasmosis]

I always keep a notebook next to my bed so that I can capture the fleeting memories of my dreams. It's amazing because after months you essentially have a bunch of short stories based virtually on your unconscious and re-reading them is quite a wonderous experience.

[@spiralsun1]

That’s why I carry a notebook too. This was awesome. I love how the frontal is dethroned. Humans…. 🤷‍♀️ 😂

[@cezariusus7595]

The only dreams that i remember are nightmares or disturbing ones. I guess i enjoyed the good ones.

[@wojciechszmyt3360]

I did this too, and after a while I started having lucid dreams pretty often :)

[@VideographerExperience]

I used this dream journal method while traveling Thailand. Amazing stream of consciousness work.

[@SantiagoItzcoatl]

I do the same but using a private personal discord server

[@karlfimm]

As a child, I had frequent nightmares where I had no control. Then, one night, it was as if the 'logic' part of my mind suddenly switched back on. I remember thinking "I'm being pursued, but my legs won't move and I'm stuck. However, my arms still work, so what can I grab as a weapon." From that night on, my dreams changed, and nightmares became extremely rare. I'm sure this is related to the mental state I find when I have a lucid dream.

[@malectric]

I've dreamed every night I've been asleep for as long as I can remember. When I was young, I found it easy to remember my dreams in a waking state. I could also control what I was dreaming to an extent. And what I dreamed in many ways actually predicted some key events in my life, some of which happened literally by chance and not by actively seeking them out. In my later years I still dream but am no longer aware at any time during dreaming and can only remember snippets of some dreams when I am awake. If I had one waking aspiration it would be that some day what a person is dreaming could (with their permission - ethical) be rendered on a computer screen. I really think it would be possible (and my hunches are usually correct). Thankyou very much for a most interesting and enthralling presentation.

[@chefscorner7063]

@malectric+ I think you may like a movie called "BrainStorm". It came out in the 80's and what they invent in similar to what you propose (a computer that shows a person's dreams). I don't want to share to much of the movie i.e., spoilers, but the main premise is being able to capture a person's experience on tape, and play it back to another person so they can experience the same thing. It's the twist in the movie that really captured my imagination!! Enjoy... :)

[@malectric]

@@chefscorner7063 Thankyou. I'll check it out. I wasn't aware of its existence.

[@CNBlaze-qj7fg]

Had a brain injury about 17 years ago. Car accident. My dreams have been almost non-existent since then. I have maybe 2 per year. I have also suffered from depression or lack of motivation, basically a lack of dopamine from what I understand. This talk finally brought the two together! Brilliant!

[@breakfastattiffanys741]

Oh that's horrible! I have very lucid dreams nightly and can control flying, direction of dream etc and about once a month can shot fire 😂 It sounds very silly writing this but I find so much joy and peace in dream journalism. I hope this practice returns to you eventually 🙏🏻

[@acacianorison]

What part of brain was injured , is it the top neck?

[@CNBlaze-qj7fg]

@@acacianorison the doctors said my whole cranium was shaken. The other vehicle hit us, from what I'm told, on my right side. We were smacked sideways. Car door hit my top right side. But the damage was so general that they couldn't say exactly what part of my brain was injured. But the jolt apparently wrenched where my head meets my spine and confused the center bits It's a a bit confusing to own the truth

[@acacianorison]

@@CNBlaze-qj7fg It should be at the level of C1. Have an exposure to sun daily 20 minutes and vitamin C along with Zinc balance will help tremendously in alleviating your depression. I HOPE YOU WILL RECOVER SOON. God bless you...ربي يشفيك ويحفظك ...امين 🤲

[@kimlarso]

@@acacianorison Vit D3 w K is very helpful w depression (especially in the Winter & if u live in Northern hemisphere) 🦋

[@user23724]

Came here to find out what our brains do when we're dreaming ... Left understanding the function of dreams. Unbelievable presentation. Loved it!

[@LiLi-or2gm]

I'm going to listen to this tonight as I fall asleep. I dream a lot and often remember them. I have a few recurring themes, and often, my dreams take place in the same locale- my dream city and its surrounding areas. I've drawn maps of it, even. I often fly, float (levitate), and swim in my dreams. Every night I look forward to falling asleep and experiencing the next set of my dreams- it's like visiting a weird and fascinating existence that I know is wholly within my mind.

[@eyzup]

Yes sometines I get a sense that some dream scenarios are repeated a lot. On this thesis it could be that we learn some dreams work well. This would be fascinating to consider from a Freudian view. Might lead to a Jungian leap into archetypes.

[@LiLi-or2gm]

@@eyzup I agree. I can clearly see the connections between the themes of my dreams end my waking situation.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

Jungian complexes will reoccur until you resolve the emotional conflict. Major dreams are more relevant than the dream snippets. Pay Attention...your unconscious is trying to get your attention! Seriously.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

Once I had the same dream, two nights in a row. The dream was about my SO. The 2nd time, got my attention. It was a short, uncomplicated dream that I cannot remember, else I would share it. He and I eventually split, yet occasionally talk about life. Although we never did while together.

[@themoontoonshines923]

How about perceiving dreaming as our second life? Just a thought, an old thought.

[@ORagnar]

You've got to hand it to Freud. His reputation will grow by leaps and bounds thanks to Mark Solms' brilliant work.

[@aculasabacca]

You mean his reputation as a scoundrel?

[@user990077]

58:28 I love the way the child has drawn little thought clouds that bend down to the large dream thought cloud. Good little artist there.

[@mygvmtnamepublicallyavailable]

If you have bongos, play a beat to this while you listen; it really enhances the lecture. It also gives the subject matter the intensity it deserves.

[@Viscous-0210]

Is that a bbt reference ?

[@peshkybee7721]

I've been lucid dreaming since I was about 12 (30 now). Something interesting I've noticed is that the further "off path" I take my dream the more obstacles are put in place to stop me/redirect me to the narrative. If I push it too far I wake up without fail. I can also recount 99 percent of my dreams with the same accuracy as telling someone about my waking experiences. Even days, weeks, or months later

[@thelionofthenorth]

Ever had a dream that you were sleeping and dreaming? Reason I ask is I lucid dream too, so comparing notes.

[@peshkybee7721]

@@thelionofthenorth do you mean having a dream where I was sleeping (woke up in the dream) or dreaming while being fully aware of what's happening around you in the real world?

[@thelionofthenorth]

@@peshkybee7721 Having a dream where you were sleeping then woke up in the dream. Also, have you dreamed of being on other planets?

[@peshkybee7721]

@@thelionofthenorth I mean... back when I was a teenager and would watch Dragon Ball Z religiously as a coping mechanism. Would dream of being on the alien planet from a very specific "saga" while that was a thing in my life. After that, no. My dreams became an interconnected world. Funny thing is that I can do Kamehamehas (dragonball thing) to varying effects depends on the situation lol Edit: funfact... I occasionally talk in my sleep and have had on a handful of instances "KAMEHAMEHAAAAED!!!" In my sleep...

[@catherineimms5168]

@@thelionofthenorth I have had many times of dreaming and waking up in dreams. I also can force myself to wake up by purposely doing something extreme in a dream.

[@firehot006]

An absolutely fascinating talk. I went through a period of experiencing extremely vivid dreams and found that I didn't feel as refreshed when I woke up from them. So although I have no doubt that dreams help good sleep I think the depth of ones sleep while dreaming is also important to feel fully rested.

[@thomassoliton1482]

See comment above - but briefly, I think the brain has no “directive” of what is important, other than emotional associations. Dreaming is akin to putting together a jig-saw puzzle using only the shapes. As the picture emerges, the brain tries to make sense of it but it is mostly nonsense. We may see thousands of trees and people and buildings every day but that information is not usually important. The dream process tries to fit that into your “world model”. But if you wake up and remember that useless information and nonsense associations, you in effect are trying to incorporate that into your world model. So your world model starts to get muddled, and you feel fatigued because the world doesn’t make as much sense. I try NOT to remember my dreams for that reason.

[@SomeRandomAustralian]

@@thomassoliton1482 that’s a very interesting point of view, I definitely haven’t heard it before and it sounds like it has a lot of merit to it. Thanks for sharing!

[@StasherDragon]

I have wild, detailed dreams. I would watch my cat sleep. I would see her REM. When she wakes up right after and sees me, she pleasantly meows at me. I wonder, "Are you telling me your dream? Are you happy to see me? What are you trying to tell me?"

[@riojauregui]

Bringing the psyche back into neuropsychiatry is a wonderful and pithy way to describe this research! This talk was incredibly insightful and I found it encouraging to see the ways that we can use new tools to bring falsifiability to old ideas. They should be adequately falsified (or not falsified) instead of just seen as ideas of less advanced people from an earlier time. Intuition is powerful, and bringing new tools to old ideas is brilliant!

[@sebastianlaakso2729]

Less advanced methods, but not people, lol

[@davidferris3586]

I accept Mark Solms' finding that people who don't dream are likely to be awake more. However, I am still unpersuaded by the Freudian conclusion that it is dreams that help keep us asleep. From my personal experiences of sleep apnea, I tend to suspect that third party factors reduce dreaming, and increase wakefulness. As a separate matter, I very much enjoyed the discussion of refutability, the valid criticism of psychoanalysis for its lack of refutability, and then the attempt to test Freudian dream theory. Mark Solms' work is fascinating and very valuable. He also explains things in ways that make the ideas accessible.

[@walkisleofman121]

I have just watched this enthralling lecture, thank you. I often don't sleep well. I have always noticed that it is without exception the dreaming sleep that I need to catch up to feel rejunevated, and that this 'catching up' is often longest in the very last hour of sleep.

[@johannageisel5390]

For me it's the opposite. When I awaken from a long and complex dream, I often feel particularly bad. As if a truck had ran me over.

[@walkisleofman121]

@@johannageisel5390 I wonder if it makes any difference when you wake up from a dream both in terms of the number of sleep cycles and literal time of day, or what type of content is in the dream? It's interesting how people's experiences are so very different.

[@johannageisel5390]

@@walkisleofman121 Hm, I don't know. Possibly.

[@stephenkagan]

Check out Dr Andrew Humberman on youtube in his discussions on improving sleep

[@MattH-wg7ou]

I have had recurring nightmares for most of my life about tornadoes. I dont live in a tornado prone area and have never seen one. But the dreams are absolutely terrifying. Even if it is just off in the distance on the horizon miles away, I still have this terror and know it's coming for me. Probably every 2 months or so. For decades.

[@bellakrinkle9381]

That's odd...mysterious. On what Continent do you live?

[@Leonium797]

Perhaps your fear of the dream is what causes the dream too occur?

[@SomeRandomAustralian]

Dreams are wild, whenever I encounter danger I usually end up trying to run away but keep going in circles slightly inclined towards the centre. It’s really weird and oddly specific but it’s become somewhat of a common occurrence which helps me remember nightmares

[@thomassoliton1482]

@@SomeRandomAustralian “inclined towards the center“ - as in going around in a shrinkngi spiral? I had that experience on LSD. I think it has to do with the dream cycle. During dreaming, you try to reinforce connections with different parts of the brain, and the thalamus keeps activating your cortex repeatedly. However, after repeated activation, brain cells stop responding, so your “sense” of what is happening contracts until none of those cells respond. Then it starts over with a different set of cells. To stop nightmares, see my response above.

[@Badass_Brains]

@@thomassoliton1482 There is also a theory that the reason why we actually experience our dreams is because it allows the visual cortex to switch on periodically throughout the night - thereby preventing other regions from "stealing its office space" given how efficient the brain is at using all regions. Amazing!

[@alka9scottus]

Absolute badass. Thanks for having Solms on.

[@mryellow4633]

Saved this talk for later! What I find fascinating about the phenomenon of sleep is that the brainless, microscopic, multicellular creature called Hydra (related to jellyfish) was shown to also sleep. Suggesting sleep is a process more integral to life than simply brain restoration

[@fburton8]

Random anecdote 2: One summer day when I was watering the garden, I had what may have been abnormal temporal lobe activity in which details and feelings of dozens of past dreams came flooding back, one after the other and continuously for what must have been 10-15 minutes. (I kept on watering the flower beds wondering how long this would go one for.) Maybe it was just a dream version of deja vu and I never actually had them, but it certainly seemed like that and the 'feelings' and atmosphere were very dreamlike.

[@christopherdrake4548]

my friend just described nearly the exact same experience just the other day!!! Amazing

[@fburton8]

@@christopherdrake4548 Was he watering the garden by any chance?? :)

[@dianebash9402]

@@fburton8 mine was also outside just sitting on the grass with my kids. I lost some use of language comprehension and was so freaked out I went to my phone but couldn’t read or recognize numbers really. I successfully called my husband and mother and then within 15 min the dreams were gone and I was normal again.

[@botboy0]

@@dianebash9402 sounds like a mini brain infarct that did no lasting damage

[@williambudd2850]

One thing that happens during sleep is the sorting of memories into those to keep and those to destroy. The memories that are to be kept are transferred into permanent memory without any conscious help from us.

[@doublekvideos]

I truly wish I could find a doctor like you in the states! I have been through TBI, many concussions, then misdiagnosed Bi-Polar & treated for 18 years. 4 years ago, I weakened off medication. I wish your science & knowledge could extend to more patients! My dream & sleep states have obviously changed in past years. Thank you for this video; as it is another to shed light on the true answers I'm searching so hard for

[@stephenkagan]

The way we've been treating my son's bipolar has been a combination of removing the anti-psychotics and most of the antidepressants that had horrible side effects, improved his diet and had him walking every day and getting fresh air. This combined with beginning meditation and some breathing exercises have done him a world of good. Mind you, it took several years to stabilize and show improvement. Have you tried or benefitted from any of those practices or found other self treatments that help?

[@danielwatkins9658]

Extremely interesting. I usually remember my dreams and they are always ordered and sensical, like watching a television episode of a part of my life that often involves people and places I know about something I haven't experienced in awakened reality. More often than not, I can recall certain dreams for days, weeks and even months after.

[@Badass_Brains]

Would you say that the dream content of your dreams have always been ordered/sensical? They weren't chaotic or jumbled back when you were a kid?

[@EarlLedden]

I listen to these lectures at night and sometimes fall asleep before they are finished. Many times I dream, and my dream relates to the substance material of the lecture. Seems to me that dreams are not just random wanderings of the mind.

[@necrionos]

the thing i found most interesting was the connection between dopamine and dream intensity/length/frequency. i tend to dream very rarely and if i do those dreams are as emotional as watching a b-movie. iam always in a state that could be described as mild depression. its not a bad thing, i just never have an internal or motivation drive to do things, i dont enjoy most things and iambasically emotionally flat lined. iam not sad, not happy, not angry and not in love. you could argue that missing dopamine could put someone in a state like mine and maybe missin dopamine production is the reason-

[@CharlieMorley]

Great talk. I shared the stage with this guy about 10 years ago in SA and he was so generous and kind as I stumbled through a talk on lucid dreaming 🤓🙏🏼

[@nintendowiirulz]

Absolutely brilliant talk! REM sleep being an incredibly ancient process produced by the the switching on-and-off of the brain stem which produces signals that are then translated by the the more evolved cortex into dreams instead of causing us to wake up. Truly mind-blowing stuff, thank you!

[@OdoItal]

Fantastic work! The thing about free association, is that it also makes sense neurologically. Because neurons form networks of associations, free association may be a rough and ready way to trace those associations. Freud's work reminds me of ancient civilizations who had a working understanding of astronomy without telescopes, and without anything that we would consider to be a scientific method, and yet it worked. They observed and paid close attention.

[@OdoItal]

@phillip wareham 😂

[@Littleprinceleon]

They modelled the sky using very heavy rocks placed on planes where there's a good visibility of big portion of sky.... And did this rather precisely for those ages. So like Freud: gather a big amount of information in ordered manner. Maybe he wasn't even aware of the importance of all of his questioning and reasoning afterwards... but he did the "computation" unconsciously. What I try to imply: maybe he did a lot of scientifically valid inquiry but covered and mixed it with half-baked deductions and emphasis. Probably he failed to describe some of the most important points which led him to the theory and also biased his interpretation by concentrating too much on repressed sexuality and aggressivity (which surely is a huge contributor to unconscious proceedings, but there are so many layers of upgrade upon these ancient drivers. )

[@kooisengchng5283]

During sleep, esp REM sleep, impulses from the brain does down to the spinal cord to inhibit the motor neurones so that no motor movement occurs. Hence you can dream you are cycling up a hill but there is no motion performed. There are disorders called REM sleep disorders in which the person can actually perform movements in spite of being asleep. You can demonstrate this in sleep labs where it is remarkable to see people performing acts that they are dreaming about.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

What of talking during a dream? Or sleepwalking? I've never walked, yet, some do. Never mind, not important. You already e plainer the non typical.

[@Pegasus4213]

I have to get up two times during sleep to use the toilet and I always have 'Frustrating' 'wake up' dreams to awaken me from sleep. This type of frustrating dream is so normal to me and it's clearly a helpful process from the inner or greater self. The frustration part used to puzzle me until I finally understood I was being helped to awaken to go use the toilet.

[@fburton8]

Random anecdote 3: My pony stallion used to vocalize as if 'chatting up' a mare while he was in REM sleep in his paddock. Eye movements were very obvious. On a couple of occasions after he woke up, he sprung to his feet, neighed, looked around the empty paddock and briefly grew a fifth leg until (presumably) he realised the mare of his dreams wasn't there after all!

[@johannageisel5390]

Awww, poor boy. There are also two videos on instagram in which Bunny, a dog using a soundboard to communicate, is asked by her "human mom" what she had dreamed. (Bunny reported about the phenomenon of dreams unprompted and on her own before, that's why her human mom had the idea to ask.) The first time Bunny's answer was "Stranger Animal". In her sleep she had been barking very quietly, which fits her report. The second time she reported "Sound" "Smell", but was not able to specify it any further. It's great that we can now start to question animals about their dreams. Obviously, dreaming is not something you need a human-like intelligence and psyche for. I wonder how far back in evolutionary history the phenomenon of dreaming goes. Do birds dream? Do reptiles?

[@kirstinstrand6292]

Proof that animals dream, if anyone doubts!

[@adrianrevill7686]

It has to be said. Your pony was having a night mare

[@johannageisel5390]

@@adrianrevill7686 :D

[@ThePeaceableKingdom]

@@adrianrevill7686 "It has to be said. Your pony was having a night mare" droll!

[@TheGreatConstantini]

I love dreams. I have at time two distinct things that I am able to do` although perhaps they are tied together. There are times when I can wake up in the night, perhaps go get a drink of water and then go back to bed and resume where I left off. The second is although I have been told it is not healthy to do. I can lucid dream where I am in neither a sleep nor waking state. During these times I am fully aware of this and know that I am as much an observer as participant. And therfore I am able to change the dreams. If I don’t like where it’s going or the ending I simply change it. This does not happen al of time. But I enjoy the times it does.

[@trippmoore]

I've never heard that lucid dreaming was not healthy. I never thought about it that way and doing so now I could see it if that's all you ever did was lucid dream. If your overall mental health is reliant on having regular unconscious (normal) dreams then always being in a lucid state when dreaming would clearly have a negative effect on your mental health. If there is any truth to this then we would need to know the minimum rate of unconscious dreaming one needs to maintain before that can experience some negative psychological issues. I would guess that rare of normal dreaming would have to drop below 50% before one experiences long term negative effects, but this is just speculation. So how often do you lucid dream compared to normal dreaming? I have probably only experienced an extended lucid dream less than 20 times in my entire life, although I have gone through periods where I had a 3 or 4 over a short period, like a week or so. I used the qualifier of extended because I have had many countless experiences of small snippets of being lucid in dreams, but they always collapse back into the unconscious dream state very quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if having short moments of lucidity is a normal part of almost every dream cycle. Since by their nature they are fleeting and gone before you have much time if any to recognize it fully they are forgotten as if you didn't experience it at all. If there is any truth to this then it would be unhealthy not ever experience lucidity while dreaming. What are your thoughts and how often do you experience these extended periods of lucidity as you describe them?

[@kirstinstrand6292]

Lucid dreams not healthy? Nonsense, change doctors!

[@kirstinstrand6292]

You may enjoy the youtube channel of Jeffery Mishlove's.

[@TheGreatConstantini]

Thanks for your thoughtful replies. I had stopped lucid dreaming, some years back, not by will, it just ceased. i did in one sense feel like at worst it deprived me of sleep. Lucid dreaming can be tiring. But I can not describe the utter ways that it was exciting, and powerful when happening. It was like being inside a dream as the director of that dream and aware at most times, not all, that you were dreaming. Recently I have been taking Kratom. And we can discuss the ramifications of that certainly. It has been for me beneficial in relaxing me during waking hours. The odd extra unexpected benefit has been lucid dreaming has come back depending on some very specific dosages and times talking it. The dreams are intensely personal at times or really all over the place in content at others. I m fully aware that I am dreaming and again for the most part in control of the dreams. I can wake up thinking about the dream and go back to sleep continuing them. I had one recently where I experienced Gaffa. The state where you may exclaim or cry out but the words come out like in slow motion and garbled. In this instance I was calling to my wife to see something I was seeing, yet the words were so hard to get out and stuck in the quicksand. I was as Kate Bush said “Am I suspended in Gaffa”. At the same time I was fully aware of the complication and redirected the dream in a better direction. In the dream I could see the moon shining brightly in the night sky, and at the same time I could see the moon shining in the night sky in the room. At one point I got out of bed, looked at it and went to get a drink of water. Then went back to bed and resumed the dream. Most people have never experienced this.

[@venkataponnaganti]

MarkSolms is consistently throwing empirical and neurological light on Freud.

[@tiborkoos188]

He first should try to understand just one of his own dreams. Sequence replay in REM is very strong evidence for dreams being meaningful, and since they often dont feel like that the neurophysiology data is prima facie evidence for the freudian notion of an a covert meaning of dreams that may be interpretable. Recent experiments also show that during REM reward collection memories are reactivated accompanied with activations of dopamine neurons - pretty close to the idea of wish fulfillment

[@kirstinstrand6292]

@@tiborkoos188 dreams are a language unto its own. I can understand many of my dreams, after tracking them more than 50 years. Self Discovery!

[@Amari_the_Artist]

I’m so glad that I can have all this information for free!

[@jolima]

22:00 Psychoanalysis is basically all about analyzing the projections going on - in ourselves and in our relationships. So it's not really disproving the therapeutical Method of Freud - maybe his neurological assumptions, but he always said, that once neuroscience advances, some of his methods might become obsolete. However nowadays neuroscience is still not advanced enough to explain exactly how those "random" neurons are formed into a film like narration - and even less what the meaning we MAKE out of these stories tell us about our psyche.

[@jolima]

Ups, should have watched until 42:17 before writing this comment :) - but its still an interesting development. Lets see what I need to comment once I finish the video...

[@chrissscottt]

Very interesting. My subjective testimony is that I think that I start dreaming as soon as I lose consciousness. However my sleep patterns are atypical as I'm a poor sleeper.

[@SomeRandomAustralian]

I can add support to your experience too, not too long ago I stayed over at a friends and slept on the couch and had one of the most memorable nightmares in recent years. It was freezing and pretty uncomfortable, I found it hard to get to sleep and recall waking up once but we went to sleep around 3ish and the note I wrote in about my nightmare was at 5ish so dreaming is definitely possible before REM sleep. That’s something I’ve proven to myself but the internet is full of liars and it’s hard to take another persons account genuinely.

[@whatzause]

I personally know of no better person to ask this (a bit unrelated) question to than yourself, sir: Why is it that getting away from a task for just a few minutes (doing crosswords, practicing piano, etc.) and then returning to it produces an instant great improvement in whatever one is attempting. I always have (and always do) find this practice NEVER to fail?

[@joemck85]

I'd attribute it to a mix of two things: You subconsciously keep mulling the problem over and have had time to think about it. And probably even more importantly, you're approaching it with a fresh mind. That is, you had a bunch of thought patterns that were going down wrong paths and they were clouding your ability to form new different ideas, and now you've discarded them by taking a break. A break also removes some frustration, another thing that made you keep hard-headedly hammering away at wrong solutions.

[@whatzause]

@@joemck85 I agree. I must also say (if I haven’t already) This “getting-away” technique NEVER fails for me!

[@kirstinstrand6292]

I would suggest that dreams MAY have components of wish fulfillment, but they are Primarily for Conflict Resolution in your REPRESSED emotional life. Purely Psychological. Although I sometimes have FUTURISTIC dreams that I DO NOT YET UNDERSTAND. Quite fascinating, actually!

[@MichaelHarrisIreland]

I've found I can sometimes solve a problem the next day after a night's sleep. It seems to me I'm thinking about the problem when I'm half awake or nearly asleep. This has happened so often that I became aware of it. Sometimes the solutions don't work at all, are outlandish, like fitting a square peg in a round hole, but other times they do work. Anyway, I forced myself to listen to all this and am intrigued again by the scientists who refuse to deal with everything but still insist their's is the only truth. They need to emphasise all the time, we don't know the full story, ...they don't do that, except when it's not challenging anything important. ....from Ireland.

[@itzybitzyspyder]

I do that too. Not many people can. I've been subjected to many a midnight epiphany.

[@spybaz]

@@itzybitzyspyder Me too. And I'm Irish too :)

[@topiasr628]

I do that as well. Whenever I'm really struggling to learn something, I will dream about it in a very disconjoined manner. That said, I've also connected that with the concept suddenly just clicking within a day or two of doing so. (BTW had anyone ever told you, you look like Christian Horner?)

[@samanthab5006]

This happens to me at times when I stop working with an open issue that I don't fully understand and can't let go of. I'll wake up in the middle of the night with fresh insights to address that issue... Not all work but they do always get me out of the box I was previously stuck in while thinking about the issue. This occurs mostly with work that involves a lot of logic and modeling.

[@johnlynch575]

22:05 THAT'S A GOOD POINT. THE MEANING IS NEVER IN THE TEA LEAVES BUT IN THE MIND PERCEIVING THE "RANDOM" ARRANGEMENT OF SUCH LEAVES. THE MEANING DOES EXIST.

[@stephanieparker1250]

Just finished your book, Hidden Springs. It’s fantastic! Very deep into the science, evolution and mechanics, not an ounce of metaphysics.. which I loved lol

[@O0o__.]

now, after many years of paying attention to the quality of my sleep and making hard efforts to dream, I can wake up from bad dreams and fall asleep to meet my quota of at least 8hr of good sleep. if I don't get a good deep sleep where I literally drawl and leave proof of it and nothing can wake me up even if there's a 10.0 earthquake, then I get sick with the flu or cold, so I have made a conscious decision to make sure I sleep deeply and produce dreams. what I also realize, is to purposely reduce my anxiety and stress, I eat healthy food and exercise, and go to bed at about the same time, the room must be dark w no noise otherwise I use earplugs then I can sleep. if no sleep then I rather call in sick and cancel all activities until my sleep quota is met. Discipline and purpose is the key.

[@evolutionaryadvantage]

I have consistent nightmares/night terrors, where I can wake up and it takes a white to reorientation myself to my own room and sometimes the line between dreams and reality are blurred.

[@bellakrinkle9381]

I never have had a nightmare. I have anxiety dreams, many in my young years, not recently. The emotions we have in our dreams often reflect what is happening in our waking lives. Stress. Anxiety. Fear. Dread, etc.

[@Beth-z2e]

I incurred a TBI (non-specific white matter near my left occipital and a poorly diminished right mastoid) from a fall from a 3 story balcony at Parris Island, South Carolina, USA (🇺🇸 a Marine Corps recruit base). It happened August 24, 1980. I am a female, honorable discharged marine. I served from March 1980-March 1983. My name is Beth Pinho, I was born September 26, 1961.😅

[@FiveBlackFootedFerrets]

What an incredibly captivating topic! And so well and thoroughly presented. I'm finding the best quality I could hope for in these presentations from the Royal institution. Thanks for posting this. Despite the growing body of research I think we've only barely touched the tip of the iceberg on this subject.

[@Badass_Brains]

I think it's fascinating how dreams demonstrate how much of our processing is unconscious. I too am intrigued about what is discovered in the future, the brain is so interesting!

[@O0o__.]

the dreams I remember are just before I wake up. many times I have woken up crying, laughing, or scared like jumping off my bed. Many dreams repeat. Sometimes a dream wakes me up, then I fall sleep just to have the previous dream that woke me up, continue. Many dreams however feel like warnings, some i was able to explain several years later. I have dreams in languages I can speak but mostly in the language I speak the most rather than my mother tongue. Now, his definition of dreams is interesting. I never connected that if you can generate dreams you can also generate psychosis? that these two are generated in the same part of the brain by the same mechanisms? I will have now to search on that and learn more. thx for sharing his research.

[@DoorknobHead]

This pleases me that Freud has been at least somewhat vindicated in regards to his work with dreams. When I was in the Marines I arbitrarily read a whole set of volumes of Freud's work in the base library (not that I can remember much of it anymore), so it is nice all that reading was not ALL for naught. It also means maybe I wasn't so wrong arguing for some of Freud's positions and perspectives at that time with that WM (Woman Marine) in the men's Head (restroom) for over an hour during Friday Field-Day (barracks cleanup) when she happened to come down to get some cleaning supplies, or something especially since she was armed with her education of modern psychology (modern thirty years ago), which seemed to completely discount Freud [sounds like a dream sequence, doesn't it, but it actually happened, as strange as it sounds]. For thirty years I was thinking maybe my initial assessments of Freud had been completely wrong, since it seemed the consensus in the field had been against him as per the intelligent and educated Woman Marine, and that Freud had not had any value except for being an example of how disastrously and completely wrong early models in a new field can be by a once highly respected pioneer of that field.

[@SolidSiren]

Freud, while an integral part of the development of psychology, is largely considered absurd and even disturbed in his theories. Some turned out to be consensus but only very minor points. I don't suggest studying Freud deeply or considering his conclusions sound.

[@VK-sz4it]

@@SolidSiren Actually, most of his ideas were correct. Ok, Ideas were abstract to begin with, so it is matter of how you measure it, really. Imagine discussing a patient with other healthcare workers. You told some idea using Freudian jargon, psychologists/psychiatrists disagree and start arguing. But If you had used same idea without that jargon, anti-Freudian would absolutely agree. Anti-Freudism is totally cultural thing.

[@curiousmind9323]

@@VK-sz4it The problem with freud is that his ideas are very attractive. So its so hard for people to refute it unless they are educated enough about it. Cause really although his ideas are attactive many of them are completely wrong

[@VK-sz4it]

@@curiousmind9323 my experience is tottaly different. People find his ideas unattractive (who in their right mind want to go to places in your brain that you avoid?). Also most of those who think that his ideas are wrong in reality do not understand them. But actual, proper science go well with psychoanalysis.

[@Xanaduum]

@@SolidSiren he was a pioneer, so of course he would make some mistakes. You wouldn't criticise the Wright brother for using wood and canvas in their planes just because we have advanced alloys now.

[@1977misfit]

I happen to have a r.e.m. sleep disorder, wherein my r.e.m. periods are all over the place. I don't sleep well, and haven't for as long as I can remember. I am 44, and have had this condition, probably my whole life. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time dreaming. My sleep is disturbed regularly throughout the night.

[@pamelacollins1153]

I use Dr Carl Jung’s basic theories of dream interpretation. Dreams show how different aspects of your psyche are relating with each other or how different attitudes and beliefs are affecting your thinking. When I remember my dreams, I can usually pinpoint exactly what they are referring to. In my experience, they don’t “disguise” anything. They create analogous stories that illustrate the dynamic relationships of different aspects of the personality. That’s my 2 cents.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

I concur, absolutely. :)) Pamela Collins, and nicely explained.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

@Paul Wolf I think it depends on whether or not one lives on the East Coast. These days, I only work with, and respect Jungians. But let's face it; deep psychological work is becoming less and less interesting to those seeking help. Yet, I've been on this path since age 12, when I asked my mother if I could see a Psychologist. She said no, and in those days I listened to my Christian, Authoritarian parents!

[@breakfastattiffanys741]

I agree, even the more fantastical and absurd dreams that we might tell another and then awkwardly giggle say ''I wonder what it means''... when we know exactly what it meant or was hinting at.

[@ThePeaceableKingdom]

"Americans are tinkers, not thinkers," said Jung, "they only want to know how it works, not what it means." Jung is fascinating and frustrating. I think he gave us a lot of wisdom about human consciousness, but he never makes it easy. It shouldn't be. But he's been my inspiration and mentor all my life.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

That's fabulous, and I experience much the same!

[@scottcupp8129]

Last night my dream was about an ex spouse who passed on. We were friends in real life up until the day she died. She appeared in a dream last night and she was losing blood and she was wounded. When the last drop left her body she said, "I will see you in Heaven". I replied "Yes I believe that. The dream goes on. Next thing I know she is not passing but recovering because earlier in her life she had a procedure done that had reserve blood and her brain would release the reserves after losing all of the blood in the body keeping the brain and body alive until the body can coagulate the cause of the blood loss and make more blood. It was fascinating. Next thing I know we are both on some sort of emergency vehicle going to the hospital to stabilize her and I remember feeling all of the emotion that I would feel in an awake state. I felt everything. When you are in a dream, that IS your reality. Reality is whatever your brain tells you it is. Reality is what you are experiencing. Reality=a construct of the powerful brain.

[@adamh1228]

that little rational, goal directed part also never goes away when you are on a boat in the ocean (or large lake)... at least for many... the 'sound' of a dragging anchor is how they should have reached the people in inception edit, and this video has taken me a lot longer than an hr to get through.... i sort of find it hard to believe that no one subjectively thought that dreams and REM are not entirely connected... pretty sure I'm not the only one who's had a horrible hung over morning filled with broken light sleep mixed with disappointing dreams. Definitely not REM sleep, but really vivid dreams; even happens when sober and you have a bad nap. Or when you skip in and out of a dream, like a tripped out fanboat ride through the everglades.

[@SomeRandomAustralian]

Daydreaming / day time naps (1< hour) and nights where I’m waking up and falling asleep constantly used to result in the most vivid dreams I can recall, I find it hard to believe (honestly don’t believe it) that REM sleep is the only period where you dream.

[@nonametosee4456]

Thank you for providing the history AND your research to update our knowledge of the brain and dreaming! You present the information in such a memorable and understandable manner.

[@frogz]

hey, doctor Solms, i suffer from aphantasia BUT i can dream, lsd and mushrooms dont work on me nor do edibles but there has been chemicals that can put me into a dream like state artificially, i am not 100% sure but i am pretty confident that it is seratonin based, i am severely lacking naturally in seratonin but a combination of ssris and agonists can induce dreams and form connections that without the chemical enhancement, would not be made

[@delphinidin]

I'd like to know more about the ramifications of these findings. Can dreams actually be interpreted in terms of our deepest desires? How do we interpret nightmares, especially those that wake us up (if dreams are meant to keep us asleep)? A common theory of dreams links them to the processing of memories: how does that fit in with these findings, or does it? Why do people with PTSD have nightmares related to their trauma? There's so much more from a psychological point of view that I want to know!

[@rosshill9469]

Australian aboriginals are always initiated via dreams, the dream teacher will meet the initiate in a dream and teach them what is required. The same process also occurs in Tibetan Dream Yoga and has beern described by Carlos Castaneda in his fictional books about lucid dreaming. In Scotland witches ( both male and female) were called weirds. Weird is derived from the idea of a web, a web of consciousness that enables people to communicate telepathically and via dreams. The idea that dreams are simply unconscious desires or mental detritus is very limited and shallow. You can develop the power to become conscious during dreams and hence the abilty to control the dream and dreaming body with which you act and communicate with others.

[@FlockOfHawks]

fell asleep during the video a few times & had some great dreams

[@Xanaduum]

It would be interesting to experiment in this area with people who have dopinergic disorders such as ADHD. Interestingly it seems some medications that raise dopamine seem to reduce dreams, but then you have a REM dream rebound effect when those medications are halted, or when alchohol or stimulant drugs are stopped.

[@kaylamorris7381]

I'm adhd and autistic . I take adderall fairly regularly and have the most intense, realistic dreams sometimes even realizing I'm dreaming but I have been that way since I was little before ever taking medication

[@OutpostH]

Thanks for the excellent lecture. But it creates more questions than answers. 'Dreaming protects our sleep'. Why have we evolved such a mechanism? Why not just not 'sleep'? Are dreams distractions to hold our attention while the man behind the curtain does his magic? Whatever that maybe.

[@deepankarmukherjee4572]

We can definitely say Freud had a very deep intuition if not proof

[@labibbidabibbadum]

One of the most fascinating lectures I’ve ever heard. (Three degrees under my belt, so I’ve heard a few).

[@mannyespinola9228]

Thank you for this video. "Dreams protect sleep."

[@Tomk792]

That five year old will be a brilliant researcher in the future. Coming from experimental psychology background, i really enjoyed the research methodologies and the presentation.

[@boxelder9167]

I have always dreamed of hearing a great lecture on sleep. Funny I am just waking up to this playing.

[@tophers3756]

The suffering we inflict on animals in the name of science is abominable

[@RobertCMize]

Truth is! you can't do what they did in the 1800s and eary 1900s and he mentions that, However There is no reason not to look at and use the Data they jotted down. Some of the research done in Germany in Pre WW2 was terrible, but those guys took notes carefully. There is no reason to burn those books!

[@Paul-ou1rx]

My sister pointed out that her dreams seem related to minor passing or fleeting thoughts she has during the day. I find that to be very true. It is almost like they are the thoughts that we ignore because we want to think only "things that fit" but the subconscious thoughts surface but quickly get covered or fade. It could also explain why dreams fade when confronted with our awake mind.

[@joemck85]

I either don't dream very often, or more likely, don't remember dreams often. But the ones I do recall are usually either fairly nonsensical or symbolic of general trends in my recent experience. For instance, if I feel like I'm getting nowhere in what I'm trying to accomplish, I might get the elevator dream where I keep taking elevators from here to there only to need to go somewhere else first, and never looping back to any previous thing. But what I'm really replying to say is about how dreams fade as I become awake. Dreams that I don't awake from seem to simply be lost unless some later experience reminds me of them, and then I get one of those eerie "I think I had a dream about this once" moments. But for dreams I awake from directly, the critical moment is when I think my first words as I drift awake. If those words are about something unrelated like what I need to do today, I can remember that I had a dream and I can sometimes recall some vague overall emotional tone of the dream, but trying to recall anything more about it feels like the memory is there but there's some very slippery wall between me and it, and it's lost. If my first verbal thoughts are about the emotions of the dream, I can then tell myself in words more about how I felt during the dream, but won't be able to say a lot about what actually happened. But if my first words are about the events in the dream, it's like holding the end of a string I can then verbally follow to narrate each event and then follow that back to the event that preceded it, and so forth back until the start of the dream or the last "scene change" in the dream, which I'm guessing is the start of a REM period. From this I theorize that my brain stores two sorts of short- and long-term memory. One is "raw" sensory experiences, the other is "encoded" verbally. If the "raw" sensory memory of the dream is fresh in my mind when the conscious verbal part comes online, I can "encode" the memory verbally and then recall it later. But if I let go of that "raw" memory without "encoding" it, my waking mind loses access to it, yet enough of it remains that I can have a similar dream at a later date, wake from that and recognize it as a repeat.

[@kathleenthompson5231]

As a non-sleeper and possible non-dreamer very grateful to have better understanding on what may be a cause for not sleeping. Is there any natural way of increasing dreaming?

[@kaylamorris7381]

I have an insomnia disorder and physically exhausting myself during the day is a great way to ensure I don't struggle to sleep and will dream and recall it

[@hintergedankee]

Like neil bohr said during the copenhagen conference 'all you can do is measure', rest is just a beautiful story you cook in your head to give a logically sounding meaning. So science apart from measurement is just a presentation which sounds plausible.

[@nightoftheworld]

29:50 *importance of subjective data* “Subjective data-we have an aversion to it in science, but it leads us to wrongheaded conclusions to leave out the subjective data. Because the fact that dreams and REM sleep correlate does not mean that they’re identical. You know we teach undergraduate students this-correlation is not causation and all that. So by leaving subjective data out we can make some dreadful mistakes.”

[@ourv9603]

If they study my dreams they will go INSANE. !

[@brianmorton4989]

I have Parkinson's Disease. I know that vivid dreaming is one of the symptoms, but I've always had vivid dreams as long as I can remember. Going to be when I was a child, I considered like going to the pictures and looked forward to sleeping. Does this mean in children , vivid dreaming could be a presymptom diagnostic tool. I also see swirls of colour drifting across my eyes when they are closed and not just in light conditions.

[@annabradshaw5225]

I’m no scientist but it may be possible that children with vivid dreams and a family history of Parkinson’s are more likely to develop the disease in their adulthood. As you said, vivid dreams are a symptom and may be something which develops early on

[@koenth2359]

Very interesting story, very good research and findings! One question came into my mind near the end though. The conclusion that dreams protect sleep (and maybe even are there for that goal) is drawn here from a strong correlation between 1. deaming or not, and 2. sleep quality. (Both groups, dreamers and non dreamers, consisted of people with thrombotical infarcts, but in different brain areas). In general, REM periods do not occur not at the start, but after some sleep, and tend to be more frequent and longer in the course of the night. It is well known that sleep-deprived people spend less of their time in REM/dreaming phase(*), because the sleep they get is mainly deep. Here's my question: Might it also be possible that bad sleepers dream less, just because they sleep deeper? (*) Sorry for not making the distinction between REM sleep and the dreaming phase here! I really can't, because, as you point out, it has hardly been done in literature! But as you showed they are very strongly correlated phenomena.

[@EverHappyDude]

This is a very good question. I'm waiting, hoping for an answer(!)

[@markdemell8056]

I have my most vivid dreams when in the R.E.M. state ! Go figure.

[@thomassoliton1482]

REM sleep, dreaming, and lucid dreaming are all very highly correlated. Dreaming can hower occur during slow -wave sleep (SWS). The important difference between lucid and “ordinary” dreaming is that in the former “you” can control your dream to some extent. For instance I used to have nightmares about being chased by a monster and it would wake me up. I remembered that part of the dream the next day and decided the only way to stop it was to face the monster. I pictured the memory and made a strong mental note to face it next time it appeared. The next time the monster appeared I “awoke” in my dream, remembered the suggestion, stood my ground, and the monster came right up to me and then “evaporated”. Two things to note here. First, you can make an auto suggestion to awaken in your dreams. It may take several tries but you should be able to if you are persistent. Picture something you want to dream about before going to sleep. Second, when you are “in control“ during dreaming (e.g. lucid dreaming) you are essentially conscious, except that you cannot activate your muscles and most sensory information is blocked out (or interpreted differently) to conform to the dream. What is not always appreciated is that your memories in this state can be consolidated - you can remember them the next day. If you awaken from a non-lucid dream, if you actively try to remember the dream, y can remember about 10 - 30 sec only, and if instead you focus attention on something else, after about 10 to 15 sec (typically) you won’t be able to remember anything about that dream. I think there is a reason you generally don’t remember your dreams - it’s nonsense; the brain attempting to extract patterns out of the days activities. If you have a nightmare because of a strong emotional component that’s different. I think it’s much better to focus on being very attentive to emotional feelings when you are awake and identify issues that way.

[@LordXain]

So, in other words: REM sleep is like a glowplug. It's your brain booting up periodically, bringing you to a semi-aware state, because in a world of predation, you don't want to be comatose for 8hrs at a time. And we remember our dreams better during this state *because* we're semi-aware. But we dream for larger parts of our sleep as our brain churns out better ways to understand the world it finds itself in. I would think people are easier to wake up in REM than in deep sleep. And after a quick search, yes, you're harder to wake up in non-REM. Our cycles are a carryover from our primate-mammaliam-chordate ancestory.

[@wdujsub7902]

This was oné of my favourite talks in a long tíme! Thanks!

[@archangel2709]

Popper: proper science requires testable hypothesis. String theorists: begin sweating nervously! Lol

[@jatinbangar4371]

That is why its string "theory". Widely accepted but not unambiguous

[@fburton8]

Random anecdote 1: If I wake up in the middle of the night, the quality of the dreaming that I remember is different from when I wake up in the morning. The morning dreams tend to be much more involved, dynamic, multiple connected scenes, 'cause and effect' albeit often nonsensical. Wee small hours dreams are more static, single-image, single-theme and less fun.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

REM sleep in morning.

[@ThePeaceableKingdom]

Interesting

[@EmilyTienne]

Same.

[@marc.lepage]

Thank you for the very informative talk, Mark Solms.

[@EmilyTienne]

Why are the most fascinating dreams, ones that tell an elaborate story become lost from memory even fifteen seconds after waking? It’s as though someone has hit the delete key.

[@chuckleezodiac24]

dreams are not meant to be remembered. like past lives -- the recollection of which fades away upon incarnating into this dimensional matrix...

[@MistaFlood]

What is really significant here is the link between scientific method and subjective experience.

[@scottcupp8129]

I love seeing my kitty dream. He moves his little ears and he retracts his claws and does bunny kicks. He is just so cute. I love my cat. To think that people experiment on the poor creatures really INFURIATES me. Why experiment on helpless creatures? Why not experiment on humans?

[@DavoidJohnson]

I'm still of the opinion that remembered dreams are a semi-conscious experience. Being fully wakened by a dream or during a dream may just be a finely or badly tuned brain state depending on its prevalence and effect on health. Isolating the area of the brain that controls this function is of course an extremely specialised subject.

My question is very direct and simple: what is the quality of sleep like for patients who lost their ability to dream due to damage to the perception synthesis area? Only the answer to this question can really suggest that Freud was right in assuming that dreams protect sleep. After all, if these patients sleep well, they don't need dreams for restorative sleep.

[@NathanOkun]

What seems to be a problem with "consciousness" is that you have a processing system in the brain (or other controlling section of a living thing) where there are inputs of external information (any kind) that the contr9ller processes and then the organism DOES THINGS DUE TO THIS. This is a fundamental equivalent to ACTION/REACTION in physics. Yet the processing and the actions taken by the organism are NOT based on the laws of physics, though limited by them (you cannot do things that are not physically possible). Such a path for the change in actions of the structure (physical body) of a living thing, as opposed to a non-living structure, implies that there are parameters where the controlling processing occurs in the living thing that require parameters (dimensions) where they are performed that do not conform to the laws of physics and yet can cause the living thing to get results of its actions that promote its continued existence. These processing functions are thus independent of the so-called "Theory of Everything" that supposedly controls the actions of all things in this universe. We need more than "Everything" obviously, to handle this form of processing of input to outputs that can have results that are not predictable in a repeatable manner.

[@neuvilpanindra2581]

"Happiness consists of getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more" Me, who hasn't seen happiness in 1000 years: 52:48

[@HarryNicNicholas]

happiness is occupation, occupation is how we forget that the entire show is a waste of time.

[@kirstinstrand6292]

@@HarryNicNicholas This implies that your life is Waste of Time. Sorry for you.🙄🤔

[@kirstinstrand6292]

@@qntkka my point is that it does not need to be!

[@tehguybro]

@@kirstinstrand6292 @Harry Nicholas @QNTKKA This conversation has no empirical value and entirely subjective, but Kirstin has the positive and long-lasting mental well-being perspective in mind. Valuable for keeping your psychological wellness in consideration so that your brain can keep moving forward in order for important research can be continued.

[@zackaryzhelyeznov]

I enjoyed the video so much! Very informative and good humour, too 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@Archivistes]

Very interesting and well put together. But Can we have the Ri have their lecturers invest in better mics and recording techniques? That one was a bit painful to watch and difficult to focus on. Cheers

[@owaisahmad7841]

Brilliant - what a revelation. Thanks a lot for your brilliant work and bleeding edge discoveries.

[@HL65536]

So, if a patient is still able to dream, but dreams less frequently and has trouble sleeping, could stimulating dreams help sleep? Are there ways/drugs to do that? Can somebody do a study about this?

[@roberthermens904]

Interesting. How does the good doctor know that dreaming protects sleep. Is it possible that sleep is protecting the dream state? It’s quite possible that dreaming has multiple functions. So many moving parts!

[@watgaz518]

A part of it acts as a storage area (Icloud) housing all the content the eyes see throughout their time whilst open. Then, when the body shuts down to sleep or becomes comatosed, it fires up and produces unimaginable dreams/nightmares, in order to keep the majority of the brain, active. If this did not occur the brain and person would die. One other niggly thing about dreams I haven't understood is why they are only visual. You never have sound? Suppose it because it would prevent you from sleeping lol.

[@NaturallyCreeAtiveDOTca]

I've been going to the same dream world for the last 8 months....different days in the dream world though like a fragmented timeline...

[@pamelacollins1153]

Fascinating information! Thank you so much for doing this!!!

[@savantofillusions]

I’m a savant with a dreamy post wake experience and some gnarly sleep disorders. My art is showing even extreme genius feats of art cannot adjust some cognitive features of my brain i.e. I don’t see upside down even if I am drawing something upside down. Yes, I draw in 360 degrees without knowing it. I believe I’m just drawing lines with my favorite digital brush. It’s extreme and I’m a new savant as weighty as Daniel Tammet.

[@DasAntiNaziBroetchen]

Ok dudette.

[@thoughtfuloutsider]

Have you looked into how these ideas, neurological experiments, might apply to hypnosis that can be said to involve wilfully dropping inhibitions and can spark hallucinations that seem like waking dreams?

[@bujodrag]

What about us that always dream lucid dreams? And for last 5 years I have multiple sclerosis. Still dream lucid dreams.

[@SomethingImpromptu]

The mind isn’t subjective. The mind & its contents are objective. Consciousness itself- our actual stream of experience- is subjective; the contents of mind are objects OF consciousness, objective phenomena we observe subjectively. Not trying to nit-pick- is a really crucial distinction that a lot of people just completely overlook/fail to make, which leads to a lot of false conclusions & assumptions downstream.

[@SirBoden]

My hypothesis: Dreams are a screensaver that plays media from your waking existence to distract yourself while your body repairs itself. That’s why the body sends the signal to shut down followed by puppet show distraction. Brain: must crunch all the numbers! Body: we have got to distract brain so we can do maintenance Body: I can only shut him down for so long before we have to do a system check, we’ll run a puppet show every 90 minutes to distract em while we test the input systems. Brain : I feel drowsy, oooh a puppet. show.. zzzzzzzzz Body: alright let’s clean up this mess.

[@johannageisel5390]

:D Perfect! _screensaver running_ === *"Please stand by during maintenance"* === _screensaver running_ === *"Please stand by during maintenance"* === _screensaver running_ === *"Please stand by during maintenance"* === _screensaver running_

[@chanpol321]

based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions: Contrasted with objective.

[@BatteryExhausted]

I dreamt about someone I hadn’t seen for a long time and the next day I got told they died the week before so that proves it.

[@Andrew_Fernie]

It does. Coincidence is real.

[@josephalibrio2173]

Such a great presentation .. i really understood alot from this !!! Thanks x

[@dermotbalson]

Wow. Very interesting and well presented, thank you.

[@leonstevens1382]

I used to have dreams in which someone spoke in a foreign language. When I checked the text the next day, I found it to be just gibberish. After that,when someone in a dream spoke in a foreign language, the speech was muffled or the speaker immediately stopped speaking as if my brain doesn’t want to be embarrassed the next day by my exposure of its nonsense. Also I find that I can control nightmares so that they don’t get out of hand. I can edit them in progress. Am I cheating the dream process?