Monday, 21 October 2013

Week 1: Data-mining our dreams

Hello guys,

I'am sorry for posting this with a delay  caused by technical problems with the Internet. :)
I hope you will find the subject very interesting.

Here it is :

http://www.kurzweilai.net/data-mining-our-dreams?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9bfb5df872-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-9bfb5df872-281896945


It looks like we are on the brink of being  able to record our dreams :)

 What do you think about this fascinating possibility? Is it dangerous?

Does it open a new road to mind reading and possibility to cure many psychological disorders ?

Posted by at

25 comments:

  1. Unknown23 October 2013 at 18:40

    I've just read presented articles and I've still trembled with fear. This fear is caused by fact that presented scientists researches are focused on researching thinks which I can't control :-).

    I don't remember any spectacular and pragmatic result originated from data-mining dreams. Maybe databases currently used by scientists are still too small for discovering some patterns.
    At this moment I have an idea for a new Google's gadget: A Google pillow - it should be a cheap pillow for everybody which is able to record our dreams for a later analysis (without sharing them by the google drive).
    But more seriously I think that psychologists should research any area which can help curing disorders - including dreams. I can imagine benefits from this direction of researches but equally I have to say that I'm not interested in psychology at all and I don't have any serious basis for my opinion. I suppose that some people can use data-mining some dreams to ridicule other people but I can't see possibility for avoiding such activities.

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    1. Unknown24 October 2013 at 15:13

      Thank you for sharing your opinion with us :) I heppen to have a similar one. I wonder what other people will have to say :) are they going to be scared as well.

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  2. Wiktor s248324 October 2013 at 19:33

    Personally, I don't pay much attention to my dreams and don't give them much thought. I do remember some of my dreams quite clearly when I wake up, but then inevitably forget them later during the day. The prospect of recording and interpreting dreams in the future is interesting. Although I'm not convinced you can learn more about a person and their life from their dreams, than by simply having a conversation. People often dream about their own lives, how is this a new discovery? Is it dangerous? Yeah, I honestly think being overly fascinated with dreams is bad (especially trying to predict the future by interpreting dreams).

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    1. Unknown24 October 2013 at 22:08

      For me more interesting than researches dreams which we remember are researches dreams which we don't remember.
      I don't know whether such things are possible - probably we can only measure activities of our brain areas during sleeping without translating them into dreams.

      I agree with you that today psychologists have better ways for gathering knowledge about patients, but maybe exploring dreams should play similar role to hypnosis - psychologists will be able to gather information hidden during conversation.

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    2. Wiktor s248325 October 2013 at 15:00

      OK, it may be useful as a way of gathering information which the patient isn't comfortable or isn't willing to talk about. But as you say, we can't really record dreams, so we're still relying on the patients telling the truth about their dreams. It's like tricking the patient into revealing the truth, similar to the controversial technique of interpreting ink pictures:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test

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    3. Unknown26 October 2013 at 12:36

      We do not have a way of recording dreams yet. But the article is hinting on a possible tools a methologies to do in the future :)

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    4. Unknown27 October 2013 at 09:30

      In my opinion it will be very difficult to record the dreams because dreams are only electrical impulse so i think that it will be very difficult to convert that impulses to the images but we will see. In the past many thing's look like impossible and now a days are normal :)

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  3. Jacek26 October 2013 at 14:12

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Jacek26 October 2013 at 14:20

    For me the biggest problem about dream analysis is that every person is unique, there are no formulas or prescriptions so honestly there is no computer which could analyze our dreams (we don't have digital dictionaries for dreams comparison - So it isn't doable). Our dream can have emotion (scared, angry, remorseful, etc.) and even fear or desires.
    Personally, I very like movies like Inception but i think we need to leave some privacy in our life.
    We can read about analysis of dreams on many websites and about dream themes so we can decode our dream by yourself.
    If you find a little time you can read about another interesting article : http://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2013/apr/05/brain-scans-decode-dream-content

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  5. Unknown26 October 2013 at 14:57


    "Our dream can have emotion (scared, angry, remorseful, etc.) and even fear or desires."
    I agree with you but we are talking about the future :) It will not be impossible to recording our dreams.

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  6. Unknown26 October 2013 at 16:20

    Yes I am sure :)

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    1. Jacek26 October 2013 at 16:35

      Cool, I will follow this topic and looking forward to see this in the real life ;) Have a nice day Kinga!

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    2. Unknown30 October 2013 at 16:42

      Have a nic day Jacek :)

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  7. Grzegorz Kędzierski26 October 2013 at 21:50

    To be frank I do not see the possibility of recording dreams as something ground breaking. Even if we could do that I do not see many areas in which we could use such information for the purpose of doing good to others. Kinga, you asked whether we can see this as a cure for many psychological disorders - personally I don't. In some psychological methods dreams are taken into account but those dreams that the person remembers and writes down in their dream journal. The dreams that they don't remember - I guess too bad. If the person remembers a given dream and can write it down after waking up then apparently it was important enough for him to remember and to be taken account in therapy.

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    1. Unknown30 October 2013 at 16:23

      ok, you maybe right. However, what about their entertainment value ? :)
      You can't deny these ...

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  8. Unknown27 October 2013 at 09:46

    In my opinion everything what can help people it's ok but I think that for now data-mining our dreams will not be so useful to cure people with psychological disorders because it's depends on that what people remember and whether they telling the truth. It's not so obvious that people who have psychological disorders will be remember everything and they will say truth. But when scientists figure out how to recorded dreams then I think that method will help people .

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    1. Unknown30 October 2013 at 16:31

      Thank you for sharing your opinion :) I am not psychologist but I wonder what they would say about the subiect.

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  9. Unknown27 October 2013 at 10:10

    I think that's a great idea (if it would be possible to record dreams). This could help people who have problems with communicating with real word like autistic kids or people in a coma. Surely it would be dangerous too. Things that we would like to keep secret while we are in state of consciousness might be disclosed while we sleep.

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  10. Unknown27 October 2013 at 12:08

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Unknown27 October 2013 at 12:10

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Unknown27 October 2013 at 12:14

    Personally I'm against this theory, because they have not been tested thoroughly for example it isn't know whether during such a dream our brain is resting whether is also losing its functionaly. At the moment we aren't able to write or to encode our dreams. As well we can not save them. In my opinion the encryption of dreams is a great threat, because it could lead to grave psychic disturbances that could happen in the brain.
    For example is Jared Loughner who had been controlling his dreams for a faw years which resulted in tragedy. He killed a few people thinking he was doing while sleeping. Following my own experiense, I can say the dreams are reflection of dreams. The sleep is a state of mind which often leads to a large concern in the day. People often move their dreams to the real world. If something happens in the sleep they are afraid that it well happen in reality. People also often confuse reality with sleep and it sometimes results in tragedy.
    I think that psychologists should examine people who are trying to learn lucid dreaming.
    I personally don't remember my dreams, and if I happen to remember something it lasts only for a short
    while.

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    1. Unknown30 October 2013 at 16:40

      I disagree with you completly. Every fact you mentioned is another reason to study the subject in depth and develop a reliable theory of dreams and dreaming. Recording dreams would be a natural part of it.

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  13. Unknown30 October 2013 at 16:45

    Thank you very much everyone for participation in the discusion, I hope you enjoyed it :)

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