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Sweet Dreams Are Made By This
schnoz writes "From Takara, the folks who brought you Bow-Lingual the dog translator, comes the Dream Workshop. Before going to sleep, all you have to do is stare at a photograph of what you want to dream of (Natalie Portman maybe) and record the dream plot. When you fall asleep, this gadget waits for REM and then uses your voice recording, lights, music and aroma to help direct your dream."
LOL. It got mention on the "selling it" page in the back, where CR publishes small items showing misleading, maybe fradulent ads.
I love it when Psychologists tout products / services with testimonials. As someone aspiring to be a real-life research psychologist some day, it seems particularly ironic that none of these guys have ever heard of the Availability Heuristic.(that, or they have, and they're just trying to exploit it, but it doesn't really look good to anyone who's taken Psych 101.)
Example: The Wigetmobile is the best selling car in america because it's super-cheap and super-reliable, according to statistics. Your uncle says he drove his into a tree and it nearly killed him, so you don't buy it, because his vivid description of his near-death incident (probably on account of his own stupidity) "outweighs" statistical evidence that the product is good. This is the same thing, only in *reverse* of the product advertising.
Alex Chiu is a big fan of this kind of marketing exploitation. He's also a complete idiot.
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It all goes downhill from first post
You can be aware in your dreams as well. The 'real' nature of sleep seems to be under investigation still, but lucid dreams (the kind where you know you're asleep and try to conjure Johnny D. or Orlando B. or Natalie P. naked before waking up) are a good example of verified awareness.
I shouldn't dismiss it that hastily.
Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
You know, I don't know why lucid dreaming isn't a bigger thing. Given all the effort people put into altered conciousness, that is. No hardware required.
I've never been a big one for altered conciousness, but I did do some lucid dreaming for a while. Basically you just get good at recognizing when you're dreaming, and then you can start controlling what happens. Yes, Natalie Portman is an option.
It does take some dedication, though. Keeping a dream journal is essential. There's some basic info out there that will help get you started.
The only downside I found is I sometimes felt I wasn't sleeping as deeply. But it is a great way to explore altered conciousness without worrying about killing brain cells or geting addicted to anything.
Cheers.
Uh.... despite the loudness of the claim you are making, you don't seem to have many facts at hand to support you.
Guided dreaming of one sort or another has been around for a long time. Sometimes it is done with a volunteer who is willing to speak to the dreamer as the dream is occurring. Other times, mental exercises before falling asleep can have a major impact on what the dreams will be about. People who attempt to have lucid dreams are occasionally known to use such devices and/or techniques, and many report success.
Hey, genuine skepticism is great (and I encourage it, in the general case), but that's not the same as having actual evidence that the device is flim-flam. Those "flashing-light eye-glasses" that you so disparage are quite useful for informing someone when he is dreaming, so that he can therefore take advantage of the lucid dreaming state to control his dreams. That is, in fact, what they're usually used for, and they do work when used for that purpose. If you've never experienced a lucid dream, I encourage you to do a little research and give it a try -- the experience is simply amazing.
Now whether this *particular* device works or not, I can't say. I've never tried it, nor talked to anybody who has. But certainly what it is trying to do has been done before by other techniques, and is not in principle impossible.
As to remembering your dreams... there are known techniques for doing that too. Just because you routinely forget your dreams doesn't mean that everybody does. I rarely forget the last dream that I have before waking, for instance, provided that I spend five minutes or so trying to fix it in my mind before it fades from short term memory.