Complex Numbers

All In A Dream

Many people dislike nightmares. I'm not a big fan myself, but they do sometimes give me story ideas.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04/dreams-what-do-they-mean/58...

Bad Dreams Are Good
Your night life prepares you for what’s to come.

I've come to be wary of anyone who states, conclusively, that they've finally figured out what purpose dreams have. But speculation? That's fine.

A handful of theories predominate. Sigmund Freud famously contended that they reveal hidden truths and wishes.

I'm pretty sure every single thing Freud said has been debunked, which is remarkable, given that even Donald Trump has been caught telling the truth at least once. You'd think Uncle Sig would have been right once or twice by accident, but no, I don't think so.

More recent research suggests that they may help us process intense emotions,

"process?"

or perhaps sort through and consolidate memories,

init defrag

or make sense of random neuron activity,

But what's doing the sense-making? Other neurons.

or rehearse responses to threatening situations.

Great, if I'm ever in a situation where I can fly away from a threat, I'll know exactly what I need to do.

Others argue that dreams have no evolutionary function, but simply dramatize personal concerns.

I'd be even more wary about "evolutionary function" arguments, pro or con.

Eight percent of dreams are about sex, a rate that holds for both women and men—though women are twice as likely as men to have sexual dreams about a public figure, while men are twice as likely to dream about multiple partners.

Sex? These days, some of us are wistfully dreaming about even casually touching another human being.

Anxiety is also rife: A study of Canadian university students found the most common dream topics, apart from sex, to be school, falling, being chased, and arriving too late for something.

So, Canadians are hyper-worried about being late. Interesting.

Which reminds me of a recurring dream I have. I suddenly remember, most of the way through the semester, that I signed up for a course I never showed up for, and now I have to take the exam.

I still have those dreams even though I haven't been in school for centuries.

A 1958 study determined that compared with Japanese people, Americans dreamed more about being locked up, losing a loved one, finding money, being inappropriately dressed or nude, or encountering an insane person. Japanese people were more likely to dream about school, trying repeatedly to do something, being paralyzed with fear, or “wild, violent beasts.”

Kaiju!

Speaking of trying repeatedly to do something in a dream, does anyone else have the thing where you keep trying to enter a number into your cell phone (or wherever), but you keep messing it up and have to start over? Or is that just me? It's like, in any dream, I find it impossible to ever type in the right numbers or spell anything correctly.

So the next time you dream about an education-related sexual experience in which you are both falling and being chased, don’t worry: It’s probably totally meaningless. Then again, your brain might be practicing so you’ll be ready if such an event ever comes to pass.

And like I said, if I'm ever in a situation where I can escape danger by zipping into the sky like Superman, or running away on all fours, my dreams will have prepared me well.

Here's a bit more on dream theory: https://www.sleep.org/articles/dream/

I probably would have gotten more out of the Atlantic article here if I'd bothered to follow the reference links. As it is, I remain unconvinced.

Perhaps I'll sleep on it.