A pipe dream or plausible invention?

Unknown Brain 1830

Possible? In theory, yes. Everything that we see and experience, whether conscious or dreaming, boils down to a series of nerve impulses in our brains. The chemicals, hormones, and endorphins at play all serve to manipulate which neuron fires when, etc.

We'd need a lot more precision with technology first; reading brain waves isn't enough, we would literally need to monitor the state of each individual neuron involved with the dreaming process. We're not there yet, but theres no reason to believe we couldn't be there one day.

In theory, we could "reply" the dreams with a certain degree of accuracy as well- but not simply by feeding data back in. We'd need to recreate the set of signals that started the series of reactions off, and get the dopamine levels just right, etc, etc. Otherwise, the same set of signals would be interpreted differently.

It'd be a bitch and a half to pull off, but thats still a far cry from impossible.

However it would ALWAYS be EXORBITANTLY expensive. There woudln't really be any reduction in cost for this kind of technology, for reasons I'm about to explain.

The issue here is that no two people have the exact same configuration. Our neurons are concentrated in different amounts in different areas, have different sensitivity levels, and are all interconnected differently. The bulk of the connections between individual neurons form during early childhood, but even after that there is near constant change going on.

What that means is a twofold problem.

First, you would need to take a significant amount of time to "map out" a persons brain before putting together a rig customized to that person. In this case, you couldn't even use the same rig for identical twins!

Secondly, even after developing a customized rig for a patient... in a matter of months, it will no longer work, as the configuration of the patients interneural connections would have changed enough to render the old rig ineffective.


I would say it's definitely possible, but will NEVER be mainstream if invented, will be exorbitantly expensive, and because of the cost and "consumable" nature of the tech (as I explained above), it would likely only be available for expensive medical diagnosis (if any insurance company would cover it, which I find doubtful), and maybe as a toy for the disgustingly wealthy.

Unknown Brain 2141

It would be interesting to do.... but you can't record your dream just by recording the waves and chemical releases..... so many other factors go into the dream state, just like the conscious state. Saying that you can in any way record your dreams is like saying that you can record your thoughts. Dreams are abstract, they're not tangible things.... It would never work. Nice idea though.

Melissa Merritt 2399

If this works, I think it may be the key to mental healing, actually. I'm not kidding. Dreams are the subconscious, which controls a lot of our nameless misgivings, urges, fears, and such. So to "steer"our dreams (more than current lucid dreaming which is cool but pretty hit or miss) could POTENTIALLY cure a lot of the emotional/mental issues that drive the human race! Tho of course the catch is this would only apply to the rich (you hint at this with "waste that money" tho I don't think it's a waste) And of course it could be misused too--to try and mentally paralyze someone. But then, anything can be misused. I just think, though, that barring economic classes, it could really heal ppl, even stop things like war in the long run--but if it is used by oneself for oneself--since everyone IS individually different, using it on someone in a way they don't want, even if "benignly," would defeat the healing purpose...Also, Amy's description of, well, privacy invasion, makes sense, tho people invade each other's privacy even now--every time they snoop their SO's email and such...I think that problem won't be solved till ppl just learn to grow up and mind their own business, and no machine is gonna do that :( I think we ARE growing up tho! Slowly but surely. :)

Like my rosecolored glasses?? :)

Lynne Lefler 1950

What a fun question, Sammy!

I would be fascinated to learn if every time I had a certain image in my mind (a red ball, for instance,) would my brain waves and/or chemical reactions be identical each time that image occurred in my mind?

Would mine be identical to YOUR brain waves and/or chemical reactions when YOU were picturing a red ball?

How about images that carry more intense emotional "weight?" (The face of a loved one, a joyous gathering of friends, or remembering something that had painful or "negative" emotions attached to it, such as shame, anger, guilt or fear.)

When you invent your "Dream-O-Meter" I want to volunteer to be a test subject. LOL

I am intuiting that the reactions would vary from individual to individual, but may sometimes be identical within each individual.

Amy Johnston 2055

I believe that it could be possible, but I think it could be like opening a pandora's box. If it became possible to decipher brain waves to create an individual's dreams, it may cause unforseen problems. What if the patient is dreaming about someone who is not their significant other? Would that cause problems in the relationship if there were proof of this fact? If it were possible to inject dreams into a patient before they fall asleep, would it cause problems like in the Arnold Swarzenegger movie Total Recall? I know that Hollywood has created movies that, at the time, seemed unrealistic and then, later on, these things came to pass so I wouldn't dare say most things aren't possible! For me, I have, throughout my lifetime, remembered many of my dreams. Although, it has been a while since that has happened. Anyway, like Jim said, it's people like you who can make these things a reality. I certainly believe that you're intelligent enough! :-)

Jim Williams 2367

Why not? If you have enough data, deciphering the waves will become child's play over time. A good program can analyze the data and map a reasonable translation. Yes, I agree that not everyone has a similar reaction to the same dream but, the wave forms combined with the persons recollection of the dream as well as their psychiatric profile would at least give a fairly accurate interpretation on an individual basis.

Then, it's only a matter of time before we figure out how to "input" these waves to stimulate the desired result. I believe that this technology could become invaluable to coma patients. Induce a particular dream state and monitor the reactions. Perhaps even assist in firing areas of the brain that may be damaged causing the coma.

That's the great thing about science, it is only limited by what we are willing to do. My philosophy is, if you can think it...you can find a way to do it. People like yourself are the ones that make these ideas a reality. Keep those ideas rolling my friend. :)

Ed Shanley 1643

Sorry buddy. In my opinion it would not be possible. Although we do have the ability to record the waves, and chemical release. We don't currently have the technology to "read" said info, never mind putting it back in. I like the general idea. Untill we have a way to translate the collected info into actual images, no dice. This Idea has been broched in other movies as well Brainwaves, Strange days. But so has time travel, and aliens. Think this one will be on the drawing board for a while.

Paul-Simon Sinclair 1337

Hey Sammy, it´s like the pipe dreams ! Everyone gets different amplified feelings after consuming drugs... Some people get nervous some relax some get angry some become a pornstar so in theory yes it would be interesting but i don´t see a market right now and you would have to investigate which areas of your brain work for which group of people....