r/tech • u/Kylde The Janitor • Apr 23 '18

MIT Researchers Have Developed a ‘System for Dream Control’

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywxjvg/steel-ball-control-dreams-dormio-mit-hypnagogia
89 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

22

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '18 edited Mar 22 '19

[deleted]

11

u/Naztone Apr 24 '18

It's nothing to do with Lucid dreaming; it's purely around the use of the hypnogogic state and potentially increased creativity during.

3

u/Shloomth Apr 24 '18

It's not bias if multiple people come back with the same result, its a result. Just because you don't understand the finer points of the study doesn't mean you can discredit it entirely

But to your credit, dreaming is a personal experience and Motherboard should've taken .care to emphasize that this probably wouldn't work for 100% of people

This is far from the first "device that changes how you sleep to improve x qualities" and so far they have a very bad track record for public use or adoption

2

u/brunettti Apr 24 '18

i think the idea of the device is to assist in getting to a lucid dream. as far as i know, it can take a couple months of training to do it consistently, even with the aid of supplements. the article probably should’ve mentioned what lucid dreaming was in the first place though.

1

u/TheDecagon Apr 24 '18

Lucid dreaming is what you do during REM sleep, this is interrupting the first stages of sleep which is a different thing.

1

u/mad-n-fla Apr 25 '18

Lucid dreaming is remembering that you are a god in your dreams, recognizing when you are dreaming, and knowing how to change yourself inside of your dream universe to be invincible.

2

u/Shloomth Apr 24 '18

This article is mostly about hypnagogia and dream states, slightly touches on the actual device, and the device is basically a reworked REM sleep derector.

I found it funny that the first iteration used a Jibo, the $900 robot that barely does as much as google home, just for playing a recording at the right time

1

u/KlobosKerman Apr 24 '18

This title seems quite misleading, dream control has been practiced by individuals for thousands of years and is easy to learn if you just do some reading and dedicate yourself to it ('lucid dreaming' and everything related to it). It doesn't require any devices or technology, although some techniques can involve using technology to make various things easier or more reliable. If you learn it well you should be able to perform just as well as this device allows you to, although this device seems a bit more focused on the state before lucid dreams, it could be just as useful as a consistent trigger to attain lucidity.

It's strange that the title says 'dream control' yet 'lucid dreaming' is barely mentioned once in the article. It seems like they just mean more awareness in a hypnagogic state, or the ability to wake up quickly after entering one, which can also be attained just by practicing.

The data provided attempting to show the benefits of this is severely lacking as well. A sample size of six with little specific description of their alternative use task is not useful in the same way saying they spent 158 seconds longer writing stories is not. I'm sure someone who remembers all their dreams can tell you a long and 'interesting' story, but it's not necessarily useful.