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Brain 'can classify words during sleep'

bbc.com

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Re: Brain 'can classify words during sleep'

#31

Post by randlet »

RobAley wrote: post #15
irremediable wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've read anecdotes about people who solve technical problems in their dreams and the concept of getting a few more mental hours out of the day is very appealing. Have you never experienced it? I've found it's very common that I'll sleep on a problem and have solutions in the morning.

I've experienced it occasionally. More often, I've (at least had the impression that I've) solved it in the night, been aware of solving it, and then forgotten the solution by morning.

I've had similar experiences with the opposite result. A number of times I've believed I've solved a problem with a eureka moment in a dream only to wake up and realize my dream-solution was complete nonsense.

Re: Brain 'can classify words during sleep'

#32

Post by ToastyMallows »

hooande wrote: post #11

Any task that could become automated could be maintained during sleep, he said. So someone who is highly trained could continue to work while they are asleep. ie, an expert stock broker could classify market data (as interpreted by EEG readings) throughout the night. Interesting, and a bit worrisome to think that some corporations could use this technology to get 16 hour days out of employees. I am interested in the…

If I could earn even half of my pay while I was sleeping I would do it in a heartbeat. Step it up, corporations!

Re: Brain 'can classify words during sleep'

#35

Post by doctoboggan »

ashwinne wrote: post #28

What a surprise! I wrote a short story last year about the exact same phenomenon: http://daariga.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/the-dream-worker/ Quite a shock to see it being found to be true as a research finding. Many of the details in the story matched so closely to the research methodology that I still cannot believe this is happening :-)

Excellent story, it reminded me of The Circle, where the main character does similar absentminded work but while awake and also doing other tasks.

My favorite line was:

> Looking around curiously at the other passengers, she wondered how many of them were trading in their dreams for small change.

Re: Brain 'can classify words during sleep'

#36

Post by totalrobe »

ToastyMallows wrote: post #32
hooande wrote: post #11

Any task that could become automated could be maintained during sleep, he said. So someone who is highly trained could continue to work while they are asleep. ie, an expert stock broker could classify market data (as interpreted by EEG readings) throughout the night. Interesting, and a bit worrisome to think that some corporations could use this technology to get 16 hour days out of employees. I am interested in the…

If I could earn even half of my pay while I was sleeping I would do it in a heartbeat. Step it up, corporations!

Are you kidding? It would be expected...they wouldn't pay you more.

Re: Brain 'can classify words during sleep'

#38

Post by jerf »

randlet wrote: post #31
RobAley wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've experienced it occasionally. More often, I've (at least had the impression that I've) solved it in the night, been aware of solving it, and then forgotten the solution by morning.

I've had similar experiences with the opposite result. A number of times I've believed I've solved a problem with a eureka moment in a dream only to wake up and realize my dream-solution was complete nonsense.

I've solved several problems, written several symphonies, and even had a blinding epiphany or two about how to solve all the world's problems that I've managed to drag up into the waking world. All were either complete nonsense or useless. (e.g., the solution to my graph theory problem is not to force feed my homework to a goat and then look for the answer in the pattern of the resulting droppings). I think it's news when someone finds a good solution in their dream precisely because it doesn't happen often.

Sleeping on the problem and having fresh insights of course is such a common experience as to be pedestrian.

Re: Brain 'can classify words during sleep'

#39

Post by TeMPOraL »

hooande wrote: post #11

Any task that could become automated could be maintained during sleep, he said. So someone who is highly trained could continue to work while they are asleep. ie, an expert stock broker could classify market data (as interpreted by EEG readings) throughout the night. Interesting, and a bit worrisome to think that some corporations could use this technology to get 16 hour days out of employees. I am interested in the…

> So someone who is highly trained could continue to work while they are asleep. ie, an expert stock broker could classify market data (as interpreted by EEG readings) throughout the night. Interesting, and a bit worrisome to think that some corporations could use this technology to get 16 hour days out of employees.

I just can't throw it out of my head that this would be a step towards ending like in this poem:

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/8o6/the_gift_we_give_to...

("em" in the poem means "emulated human", i.e. a mind running on computer hardware)

Re: Brain 'can classify words during sleep'

#40

Post by ToastyMallows »

totalrobe wrote: post #36
ToastyMallows wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could earn even half of my pay while I was sleeping I would do it in a heartbeat. Step it up, corporations!

Are you kidding? It would be expected...they wouldn't pay you more.

Not more; I said half my pay that I'm earning now. Actually, not even half. Any amount of money that I can earn while sleeping is fine by me.
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