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posted by hubie on Tuesday October 22, @11:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-let-me-sleep-in-peace dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The experiment involved participants utilizing specialized equipment including sensors and earbuds. On September 24, one participant sleeping at home induced lucid dreaming, a state in which you are aware that you are dreaming. It is apparently a trainable skill, although I have only ever personally experienced it a handful of times throughout my life.

On the night of the 24th when the REMspace participant entered this state, the connected hardware they were wearing pinged a remote server that generated a random Remmyo word (Remmyo is a type of dream language that is detectable using sensors). The word was sent to the earbuds the person was wearing, and they repeated it in their dream.

The dreamer's response – the Remmyo word – was then captured and stored on the server. Eight minutes later, another participant entered a lucid dream and received the stored message from the first user. When she woke, she confirmed the word – successfully demonstrating the first-ever "chat" exchange between two dreaming participants.

REMspace said two other participants were also able to communicate with its server while dreaming.

The startup's founder and CEO, Michael Raduga, said communicating in dreams seemed like science fiction yesterday. "Tomorrow, it will be so common we won't be able to imagine our lives without this technology," the executive added.

Raduga said the capability opens the door to countless commercial applications, but stopped short of giving any specific examples. "We believe that REM sleep and related phenomena, like lucid dreams, will become the next big industry after AI," he noted.

While no doubt fascinating, it is also a bit frightening. The idea of commercializing dreams sounds ripe for misuse and if we're being force-fed content even while we are sleeping, when will we ever be able to truly unplug and get any actual rest?


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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by HeadlineEditor on Tuesday October 22, @11:50AM (7 children)

    by HeadlineEditor (43479) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 22, @11:50AM (#1378079)

    "Hello, I am a professional hacker, and I have broken into your dreams and recorded them. Send me bitcoin, or I will show your wife what you were *really* dreaming!"

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by zocalo on Tuesday October 22, @01:06PM (1 child)

      by zocalo (302) on Tuesday October 22, @01:06PM (#1378087)
      That's just the start. Wait until the scum in marketing and personal data collection get wise to it. Plug yourself into one of these, and sooner or later every dream is going to become a privacy stealing nightmare full of product placements and blatent "wake up and buy me" ads. Hell, no.
      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22, @06:49PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22, @06:49PM (#1378163)

        That's just the start. Wait until the scum in marketing and personal data collection get wise to it. Plug yourself into one of these, and sooner or later every dream is going to become a privacy stealing nightmare full of product placements and blatent "wake up and buy me" ads. Hell, no.

        "There are single women in your area dreaming right now...just look into your wallet and dream-transmit your credit card number..."

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by Ingar on Tuesday October 22, @01:06PM (4 children)

      by Ingar (801) on Tuesday October 22, @01:06PM (#1378088) Homepage Journal

      Lightspeed Briefs

      As seen in your dreams.

      (This is a reference to the Futurama Episode "A Fishful of Dollars" where Fry's dream is taken over by a commercial)

      --
      Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.
      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 22, @02:21PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday October 22, @02:21PM (#1378100) Journal

        Buzz Light-Beer
        --Brought to you by Disney+breweries

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
      • (Score: 5, Funny) by drussell on Tuesday October 22, @04:39PM

        by drussell (2678) on Tuesday October 22, @04:39PM (#1378137) Journal

        "That's awful! It's like brainwashing!"

        "Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?"

        "Well sure, but not in our dreams!"

        "Only on TV and radio;
        and in magazines;
        and movies;
        and at ballgames, on busses and milk cartons and T-shirts and bananas and written on the sky!"

        "But not in dreams! No-sir-eee!!"

      • (Score: 2) by aafcac on Tuesday October 22, @05:39PM (1 child)

        by aafcac (17646) on Tuesday October 22, @05:39PM (#1378157)

        That was my thought. The number of ways in which this can be abused are likely to outnumber the legitimate uses.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Reziac on Wednesday October 23, @02:47AM

          by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday October 23, @02:47AM (#1378216) Homepage

          Agreed. However so long as we're not forcibly plugged into it...but that day will come: The Sleep Police have received a report that you have unplugged your Dream-Aid. Is this true, Citizen? Also, your payment for last month's dream stimulus is overdue, and you will receive only commercials until you make another payment, plus interest.

          I did have the notion that it might be used to attempt contact with someone in a comatose state.

          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22, @12:40PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22, @12:40PM (#1378082)

    The idea of commercializing dreams sounds ripe for misuse and if we're being force-fed content even while we are sleeping, when will we ever be able to truly unplug and get any actual rest?

    Who is forcing you to stay plugged though?

    I tried[1] that lucid dreaming stuff before and while it's fun to fly, create stuff, etc for a while, I soon get tired/sleepy and "go back to sleep while sleeping". Others might not have the same issue.

    [1] The method I used was to make it a habit to regularly ask myself whether I'm awake or not. So then when I do the same thing when I'm dreaming I would realize that I'm dreaming and "wake" (some people get too excited and fully wake, but if you succeed in not fully waking, you usually end up "lucid dreaming").

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by HeadlineEditor on Tuesday October 22, @12:45PM

      by HeadlineEditor (43479) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 22, @12:45PM (#1378083)

      ...fun to fly, create stuff, etc

      I should try this. My dreams are never fun or exciting; in fact they're far too realistic. I'm always dreaming I'm sitting in my car in traffic, or at work trying to find someone/something I need, or I'm washing dishes or something. Maybe I need a vacation.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by acid andy on Tuesday October 22, @01:36PM

      by acid andy (1683) on Tuesday October 22, @01:36PM (#1378094) Homepage Journal

      (some people get too excited and fully wake, but if you succeed in not fully waking, you usually end up "lucid dreaming")

      A lot of times I used to get excited and wake up, but for me after I had a few more lucid dreams over the next year or so, I started to often feel a lot more matter-of-fact and relaxed about it. You can distract yourself from the initial excitement by quickly remembering a dream goal: something you want to achieve or experience in the dream. I would do that but I would usually find I would still wake up quite quickly anyway, often not from excitement but from actually worrying about waking up! Since then I have dealt with that by just embracing the fact that I likely only have a very short amount of time to do lucid stuff before waking, and just quickly try and get on with the dream goals. Hopefully in time, longer lucid dreams will happen anyway. But either way, it's awesome fun.

      I have also found my lucid dreaming practice has made me much more aware of the hypnagogic state when half asleep. I can observe it more clearly and possibly experience it for longer as well, which is very interesting. It's not very useful though as thoughts seem to be really chaotic and illogical in that state!

      --
      Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by mcgrew on Tuesday October 22, @03:04PM (1 child)

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Tuesday October 22, @03:04PM (#1378111) Homepage Journal

      I've forgotten the name of the ancient who first said this, but "Last night I dreamed I was a butterfly. But was I a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming I am a man?"

      --
      Our nation is in deep shit, but it's illegal to say that on TV.
  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 22, @01:01PM (6 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday October 22, @01:01PM (#1378085) Journal

    I want an alarm clock that can sense your dream state: many times when the alarm goes off, i'm in the middle of a deep dream and i wake up feeling groggy as hell and dis-oriented.

    I want an alarm clock that will 'sense' that i'm either about to go into a dream and go off, even early, so it doesn't wake me up from a deep dream, or doesn't go off until i am out of the dream.

    Give me that and i'll say, "Spank you very, very much!"

    As for communicating in dreams i know for guys it will be communicating to the wife/girlfriend "You will wake now and give me teh sex... you will wake now and give me teh sexy, sexy sex...."

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by mcgrew on Tuesday October 22, @03:11PM (3 children)

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Tuesday October 22, @03:11PM (#1378114) Homepage Journal

      If you're in REM sleep when your clock goes off, you didn't go to bed early enough.

      --
      Our nation is in deep shit, but it's illegal to say that on TV.
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 22, @08:54PM (2 children)

        by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday October 22, @08:54PM (#1378169) Journal

        Tell that to my son: my wife and i rarely get enough sleep.

        I used to sleep til 6:30 am, but the clock was waking me up while dreaming. I read that waking up earlier or later might help, so i started getting up at 6am (when working, getting up at 7am is too late). It worked for a while, but then it started again.

        My son sometimes is awake until 2-3am, even if we get him up at 6-7am.

        He is a challenge, and my wife and i always laugh (sardonically with a "You gotta laugh or you'll cry" attitude) when we hear that a good nights sleep is important for your health.
        It probably is, but we RARELY see one.

        But HEY!, what doesn't kill you only makes you tired until it kills you, lol.

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
        • (Score: 2) by corey on Wednesday October 23, @10:34AM (1 child)

          by corey (2202) on Wednesday October 23, @10:34AM (#1378259)

          How old is your son? I assume not a toddler. Sounds difficult, but at least you sound like you have a good attitude about it. I’ve told myself on multiple occasions regarding the craziness of having young kids, is that it won’t last forever. They grow up eventually.

          • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday October 23, @08:55PM

            by Gaaark (41) on Wednesday October 23, @08:55PM (#1378357) Journal

            He's 24 and SEVERELY autistic.

            He can't be left on his own: he has gone outside naked and we worry he might wander off.

            When he was about 5 years old, he went through a 2 month period of getting 3 hours sleep per night (6-7 days in a row, then one night of 6 hours, then rinse and repeat). For 2 solid months.
            If my wife was exhausted, i'd sleep on the floor of his bedroom in front of the door so if he tried to get out he'd have to bang the door into my head and step on me, which was quite effective in waking me, lol.

            Occasionally he will do it again for a few days, but luckily not that long *touch wood-- and stop the dirty thoughts, lol*

            He'll probably be living with us until we just get too old, then will probably be going to my daughter and son-in-laws (we're going to put him on a wait list for a group home, but that can be a hit or miss as for quality care).

            --
            --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by fliptop on Tuesday October 22, @03:48PM (1 child)

      by fliptop (1666) on Tuesday October 22, @03:48PM (#1378123) Journal

      I want an alarm clock that can sense your dream state

      I haven't used an alarm clock in about 30 years. When I was in college and delivered newspapers I found that having to wake up every day (that's 365 days, not M-F) at 3:30am did something to my brain that allows me to simply think, before I fall asleep, what time I need to wake up. Somehow my dreams never seem to get interrupted either, and I have lucid dreams almost every night.

      --
      Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 22, @09:01PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday October 22, @09:01PM (#1378170) Journal

        see: https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=62415&page=1&cid=1378169#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]

        I use the alarm to wake me up 'cos if i don't i'd sleep too late and my son would get too much sleep and be up even more hours and we'd get even less sleep and..........

        My wife and i just try to trade off, letting each of us get as much sleep as we can over time while getting less/little sleep day to day.

        I have trouble falling asleep while my wife falls asleep and wakes up on a dime.
        So she falls asleep quickly, but will often wake up during the night to put him back to bed after he goes to the bathroom, while i stay up with him until he gets quiet and then i go to sleep and usually sleep through til the alarm.

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 2) by Revek on Tuesday October 22, @01:21PM (2 children)

    by Revek (5022) on Tuesday October 22, @01:21PM (#1378092)
    --
    This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
    • (Score: 2) by zzarko on Tuesday October 22, @04:56PM (1 child)

      by zzarko (5697) on Tuesday October 22, @04:56PM (#1378143)

      Exactly this was my first association when I read the title. Some influencer-shitface telling me in MY dream to spend money on some garbage...

      --
      C64 BASIC: 1 a=rnd(-52028):fori=1to8:a=rnd(1):next:fori=1to5:?chr$(rnd(1)*26+65);:next
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by drussell on Tuesday October 22, @05:25PM

        by drussell (2678) on Tuesday October 22, @05:25PM (#1378152) Journal

        1 a=rnd(-52028):fori=1to8:a=rnd(1):next:fori=1to5:?chr$(rnd(1)*26+65);:next

        Geez, man...

        That is a very elaborate, obfuscated way to print ZARKO.

        Kudos! :)

  • (Score: 2) by owl on Tuesday October 22, @02:13PM

    by owl (15206) on Tuesday October 22, @02:13PM (#1378099)

    The beginnings of Nightmare on Elm Street becoming closer to reality with this "discovery"?

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by mcgrew on Tuesday October 22, @03:00PM (4 children)

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Tuesday October 22, @03:00PM (#1378110) Homepage Journal

    My bullshit detector has gone off. Show me the peer-reviewed research paper.

    Dreaming Is a Private Thing. [wikipedia.org]

    --
    Our nation is in deep shit, but it's illegal to say that on TV.
    • (Score: 3, Touché) by PiMuNu on Tuesday October 22, @04:39PM (1 child)

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Tuesday October 22, @04:39PM (#1378138)

      > Show me the peer-reviewed research paper.

      Perfectly possible to lie in peer-review.

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by aafcac on Tuesday October 22, @05:42PM

        by aafcac (17646) on Tuesday October 22, @05:42PM (#1378159)

        The reviews came to me in a dream. But I forgot what I read in another dream.

    • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday October 23, @12:26AM

      by acid andy (1683) on Wednesday October 23, @12:26AM (#1378187) Homepage Journal

      Yeah, the bit that sounds vaguely plausible is when they play a word to the dreamer through ear buds. If experienced lucid dreamers can figure out full two way voice communication, then even though their dream worlds are initially private, I envisage you could set up a sort of RPG between multiple communicating lucid dreamers where they each describe what is going on in their own vicinity and cooperatively imagine a game world.

      --
      Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by corey on Wednesday October 23, @10:39AM

      by corey (2202) on Wednesday October 23, @10:39AM (#1378260)

      I feel a bit the same but yeah maybe they are onto something.

      > "Tomorrow, it will be so common we won't be able to imagine our lives without this technology," the executive added.

      > Raduga said the capability opens the door to countless commercial applications, but stopped short of giving any specific examples. "We believe that REM sleep and related phenomena, like lucid dreams, will become the next big industry after AI," he noted.

      Um. Yeah right. They’re dreaming.

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