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New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

newyorker.com

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Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#131

Post by gblargg »

dwoldrich wrote: post #104
ml_basics wrote: post #33

During my time at university studying pure mathematics I had an interesting experience of doing a challenging sheet of combinatorics problems during a vacation. Every day I attempted one question and got stuck on it. Then the next morning I woke up knowing the solution. It was a recurring thing: this happened every day for about 2 weeks until I had solved all the problems. For me this a big eye opener about the impor…

In my 40's I could go to bed with a complex software design or implementation problem I was wrestling with. Consciously word a cogent and succinct question that I needed answered, sleep on it, and then in the morning, I would be still and mentally ask, "well?" Not meditating or anything, just be quiet then and listen. And, in very deadpan style, after a few seconds (as if to choose one's words carefully), some answer…

When I wake up from good rest it's like I've been somewhere else for years. I use that time to stay off the Internet and look at things fresh. That would explain plenty of coming up with novel solutions to things, without any solving being done while sleeping. The mental ruts of the day greatly limit problem-solving ability.

Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#132

Post by mr-wendel »

ahimthedream wrote: post #128
mr-wendel wrote: post #111

I was at my first real software job and we had an in-house system to provide automated installers for common open-source applications for our end-users. After I started getting familiar with it I had a dream one night that certain input fields (which were very common) could be rather easily exploited to inject shell commands with root access. I woke up convinced that it was a real bug, went to work the next day, and…

Did you try to harness this power again? I.e. seed your dreams to solve problems?

Only in my dreams! erm...

The closest I've come since is involuntary obsessions with playing video games in my dreams. Not something I'd ever want to seed. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#133

Post by gblargg »

suprjami wrote: post #36
rcarmo wrote: post #32

So I guess having dreams about recurring meetings is... honing corporate skills?

It also counts as overtime, right?

If this dream-learning thing caught on, everyone would have to work in their sleep to stay competitive.

Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#134

Post by lostlogin »

tsukurimashou wrote: post #37
detribaby wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well you’ll have to give us more. Do you speak Mandarin at all?

spoiler, he is Chinese and only speaks Mandarin

But writes in English. Very rare.

Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#135

Post by coppsilgold »

jesse_dot_id wrote: post #9

Lucid dreaming is a cool concept but I've never been able to pull it off. I still try, though!

Training yourself to remember dreams by writing them down before they fade away is paramount, it's not enough to just think about them - they still somehow fade away along with your thoughts about them. Then read what you wrote before going to sleep again.

If you want to achieve lucid dreaming consistently you also have to develop a habit of doing reality checks. The most effective one is to pinch your nose and try to breath through it, in your dreams it will almost always work and the surprise is major.

Lucid dreaming even works for people with aphantasia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia>.

Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#137

Post by BoxedEmpathy »

lostlogin wrote: post #134
tsukurimashou wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

spoiler, he is Chinese and only speaks Mandarin

But writes in English. Very rare.

I've met a few people who write English but can't speak it. One of them is polish and learned to type English to play online video games.

Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#138

Post by anon291 »

Srinivas Ramanujan famously said he did most of his work at night in dreams.

As a total aside, I've had sleep issues my whole life and can sometimes inadvertently induce lucid dreaming, and then I can think for hours while sleeping; it's amazing. Unfortunately a bit inception-y, but whatever.

Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#139

Post by an0malous »

coppsilgold wrote: post #135
jesse_dot_id wrote: post #9

Lucid dreaming is a cool concept but I've never been able to pull it off. I still try, though!

Training yourself to remember dreams by writing them down before they fade away is paramount, it's not enough to just think about them - they still somehow fade away along with your thoughts about them. Then read what you wrote before going to sleep again. If you want to achieve lucid dreaming consistently you also have to develop a habit of doing reality checks. The most effective one is to pinch your nose and try t…

Are there any more subtle reality checks so people in the real world don’t think I’m insane trying to breathe through my closed nose all day?

Re: New research suggests people can communicate and practice skills while dreaming

#140

Post by Supermancho »

dwoldrich wrote: post #104
ml_basics wrote: post #33

During my time at university studying pure mathematics I had an interesting experience of doing a challenging sheet of combinatorics problems during a vacation. Every day I attempted one question and got stuck on it. Then the next morning I woke up knowing the solution. It was a recurring thing: this happened every day for about 2 weeks until I had solved all the problems. For me this a big eye opener about the impor…

In my 40's I could go to bed with a complex software design or implementation problem I was wrestling with. Consciously word a cogent and succinct question that I needed answered, sleep on it, and then in the morning, I would be still and mentally ask, "well?" Not meditating or anything, just be quiet then and listen. And, in very deadpan style, after a few seconds (as if to choose one's words carefully), some answer…

I subscribe to the Multiplicity of Personality theory (our personalities are a combination of multiple ones). eg My wife and I both have a chaos monkey that emits impulses to do the most destructive and disruptive things, which we sometimes talk about in jest.

My dominant personality is one of control (for order) so I can focus on problem solving. Some sort of raw insight/intelligence comes from a personality that isn't always on, but seems to erupt from periods of calm and relaxation. eg Shower solutions or bedtime revelations are common.

Many people have told stories of voices that nudge them this way or that at just the right time, which I've experienced as well. Whatever part of me dreams is uses memories and fantasy, striving to experiencing new scenarios through thought experiments. The better I sleep, the more I find very recent events are incorporated...so it's some sort of shared space and speaks to how physical state affects mental states, even in sleep. I also feel like the personalities fight for dominance when the body or mind is overly-stressed (puberty, mortal danger, etc) but normally resolve into a sort of basal state.

I never wanted to be a psychologist. I often think that maybe I'm just crazy. It would explain a lot.

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