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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."
Why not just sell these pre-programmed with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera modules?
Maybe Thinkgeek could sell a "Natalie Portman in Hot Grits" version?
How bout if I change someone's dream input?
Hacking dreams???
This is the Constitution.This is the Constitution under the Bush administration. Any questions?
Hey, this thing might work! Back in the dark ages when I was in college I used to tape lectures and listen to them while I was asleep. Amazing results!
My dreams could use a bit of spicing up, but I think I'll opt for Johnny Depp instead of Natalie Portman. Anyone know how much 14,800 yen is in US Dollars?
Linus naked...
I mean....
Darl McBride vs. Darth Maul Ok, on a more serious note, could this replace studying in some way shape or form. I mean a book under your pillow is crazy, but what about making it direct you through a dream in which you learn. This could really help self education. Imagine going further, having it teach you programming. Yes, you would need to record a plot and such, but I bet someone smart could have a computer generate one from an online manual or something. Just my 2 cents
http://www.beyourowneviloverlord.tk
http://www.frozenchickenthrowing.tk
http://www.killercamel.tk
I can't wait to see people who screw this one up. The people with pictures of Grandma on their night table.
Karma: Raspberry Kiwi
I want to have a dream about a trip to mars. Oh, wait...
You just know that your alarm clock would go off just as it ogt interesting...
and how many dreams can u actually remember after you wake up anyway, i always remember for about half an hour before the memories start to fade... i think ive lost some good ones, altho i may have been dreaming
How many computers are too many?
You could play some nice pranks with this toy after a scary movie.... aliens perhaps...muhahahahaha
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, now would it?' -Albert Einstein-
"From Takara, the folks who brought you Bow-Lingual the dog translator
This isn't that email i get 15 times a week proclaiming "Amazing Breakthrough In Software Technology! Turn Woofs into Words! Free Download!" is it?
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."
It's probably not recommended to have a device cooking up some grits when there's no one there to keep an eye on it. But in other news, i did hear that they are selling perfume that smells just like natalie portman!
do() || do_not();
Classic flim-flam. Variations of these flashing-light eye-glasses have been around for decades, claiming to be everything from a headache cure to, in this case a dream machine. The nice thing about claiming things about dreams is that most dreams aren't remembered, so there's nothing to be able to go after when it comes to false advertising.
Yes, I'm a skeptic. I suppose I should want to try this product beforhand to be scientifically valid... but testimonial "evidence" with this sort of product does not give me any motivation to hand out money so I can reward these people to test their wild theory.
Ryan Fenton
But wouldn't it be embarrasing if you died in your sleep and the coroner came to pick up your body a week later with a picture of Oprah beside you, while your voice described your dream date, bow-chicka-bow-bow music played, and musky perfume poured out of this thing?
if this really works. I used to sleep with the radio tuned to a news station, and I never got the urge to buy any Preparation H or that itch powder (Gold Bond was it?)
What?
Coca-cola, happy subconscience suggestion!
Combine this with sound rifles, through-wall sonics and lasers...mmm scarrry.
Candy-Coated Knowledge
Would dreams be considered a creative work under US copyright law? If they are, then would a hacked dream be a derived work? Cool. You won't get in trouble for making your victim have nightmares of radioactive hell-lobsters, but you'll go to jail for copyright infringement.
Wim Wenders's Until the End of the World came up immediately when I saw the article... though this machine doesn't come close to the device in the movie, you'll have to see the movie!, I do recall that once I got a handle on my dreams many of my day-time 'stuff', 'issues', 'problems' were somehow clarified and easier to manage. I kept a dream journal for about six months and those six months were the sanest of my life. I'd be curious to try the dream machine only to see if I could get that kind of clarity back without having to wake up half an hour earlier everyday to write down my dreams...
Although lucid dreaming is not exactly the same as dream control, it does give you the ability to control your OWN ACTIONS in a dream. The advantage of lucid dreaming is that you don't have to buy any gizmos to make it work (although some people do sell things to help you achieve lucidity). The disadvantages are, as I mentioned, the fact that you only control yourself and not necessarily your surroundings and it takes some time to learn the skill of becoming lucid in a dream.
Lucid dreaming is basically a technique for becoming conscious that you are in a dream without actually waking from that dream. It takes some work, believe me. We're talking months here. But it is kinda cool. Once I realize that I'm dreaming, I usually take advantage of that fact by blasting any enemies around me with a Godzilla-like breath weapon! While this is admittedly pretty geeky, I can say that here without being laughed at (right?) because we're all geeks. Plus, it's pretty neat to see Bill Gates go up in flames!
Another advantage of lucid dreaming is that it's a proven technique whereas this new gizmo is just something that someone is trying to sell you.
GMD
watch this
I want to see someone hack this and connect it to the web. People could then visit the site and upload their own voice tracks.
I think that could turn out to be really really amusing, although I fear what would happen if it ever got slashdotted. I'd probably end up with a dream about hanging Gates while doing naughty things with Natalie Portman on top of a beowulf cluster of hot grits while the goatse man and penis bird watch.
LOL. It got mention on the "selling it" page in the back, where CR publishes small items showing misleading, maybe fradulent ads.
It's been known for quite a while that what you dream about is usually whatever you were thinking about just before you went to sleep. Staring at a photograph is one way to make sure you're thinking about the person you want to dream about... so who needs the gadget?
Dream about Lord of the Rings, before you wake up and realise you have just been Tolkien in your sleep.
Not that anybody should trust redirect URLs, but let me warn you:
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It all goes downhill from first post
Isn't this similar to the phenomenon of waking up and realizing that your dream contained bits and pieces of what was on TV/radio while you slept (eg, your radio or TV is set as a wake-up alarm)? I.E., your subconcious mind picked-up on cues while you were sleeping and inserted them into the dream.
You are now entering a deep sleep [Buy Bowlingual]... you are completely at rest... [Bowlingual is NOT funny]... Natalie portman is coming to you... she is smiling [SCO is in Linux]... she would like you to touch her... [she would like you to make her wear a Bowlingual collar]
Going through the book and actually reading it out loud probably did more for your long term memory than playing it while you were off in fairyland...
"We are still experimenting, mainly with company employees," Takara marketing executive Kenji Hattori told reporters in Tokyo yesterday.
I mean, after all, it's just a device to program your unconscious mind. What could possibly go wrong?
Quick, somebody call Michael Crichton!
-Mark
Has any one thought of the ethical issues that could arise from this. Directing ones dreams sounds neat and all, but what if the person that you direct in your dreams has told you not to, or they have some kind of restraining order on you.
Sure these are your dreams and controlling them I guess should be your option, but when do you cross the line? Do you need to get permission from people to use them in your dream if it's directed. I don't think they can do anything in a normal dream, but when things are pre meditated does that change things?
I would honestly think that if the average person got a hold of this they could use it for ill. I know that I don't want people dreaming about me without my permission.
One final thought, how would this work if a person has purposefully violent dreams. Has a dream about killing people for instance, would this be allowed into court, and if so would it count as premeditation.
As techs we may think it cool to make our dreams be what we want them to be, but we do have to worry about this at the ethical / legal level.
Oh and for the person wanting to know how much that is in dollars 138.486.
I've never gotten any spam of that sort, but I know that it is not the same thing.
The Bow-Lingual is a plastic rectangle the size of a very big wallet that you can hang around your dog's neck. I saw one on the local news.
This has got to be the most idiotic thing I've ever read on slashdot. Or, anywhere.
I know that I don't want people dreaming about me without my permission.
...or whatever the hell it's called now. I'll end up patching it in my dreams. Imagine, my perfect dream is about to come true and just before it does, "windows update is ready to install..." Then again, if it were run by linux, I'd get an error message of "this dreams requires the package lib.so.4.508 to continue." Either way, this ain't going to work the way it's advertised.
On a serious note, google up lucid dreaming and read about it. It actually works. Years ago I tried to make one of these things by having a bunch of LED's blink rapidly. It didn't work, but it was a neat form of meditation. But seriously, there's nothing like a lucid dream.
"Time to slowly, painfully ease yourself back into consciousness."
hey, maybe the poster was just gay? Nothing wrong with that.
A sleep-depraved Saddam is forced to stare at a photo of his dead son's bodies. After he's finally allowed to sleep and REM kicks in, a voice-over script explains to him that its all his fault and guides him on how he should cooperate fully.
After steering his dream through freedom, a comfortable exile, and a harem of virgins he is conveniently woken up for his next round of questioning.
I was unaware that Michael Stipe was an afficianado of hot grits.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
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.
The Monroe Institute has something a lot cheaper that will do the same thing. By using sound to alter brain waves, they can induce something that works like mild hypnosis, but give you control over yourself. I researched their "Sweet Dreams" audio suite while I was in college, and though I didn't have enough subjects (only had 4 or so) to have any significant results, there was a very visible trend to suggest that the cassettes (no cd's available at the time) were doing just what they said they would. Personally, I had my dream recall rates go from virtually none to 2-4 long dreams per night. It's a little new-agey, but this stuff is all based in science with lab results, etc. Worth checking out.
Do you really need reason for beer? Wingman Brewers
Or, alternatively, just learn lucid dreaming and become master of your dream world.
Many times, I have solved The Problem in my sleep. I have also composed some bitching music (music composition being a former hobby of mine).
Of the many times I have solved The Problem, only once was it actually a solution, and even then it was more like a thought that actually put me on the right track when I awoke, more out of coincidence I think then anything else.
Many times I have awoken with the semantic equivalent of "My code will be fixed if I just pick a purple lilac and feed it to my dog.", only much, much wierder in a way that I can not just summon up while awake to provide a good example for. And it all makes such sense at the time.
I'm sure some people really do solve problems in their dreams, and goodness knows a good night's sleep always does help me. But I wonder how many people really solve problems in their dream, and how many people just think they've solved problems. I've managed to drag several ideas from my dreams back into the waking world, including quite a few semi-interesting sci-fi plots, but none of them are worth anything when examined in the light of the sun, except perhaps some entertainment value.
One of the things I remember dragging back was a music melody that was going to make me famous... I don't recall the specifics but I do recall it only involved two notes a whole step apart in some entirely uninspired rhythm; in the waking world it was terminally dull, as you might imagine a two-note melody would be. (I have on the other hand written some music I rather enjoyed based on the wierd feeling I sometimes get after having wierd dreams, but the music did not come to me in my sleep.)
I also am a big fan of dream control via lucid dreaming, and if I'm maintaining the dream/reality checks and am in practice, I can usually achieve about 3 remembered and controlled long dreams a week, all for free. It took me about four months to get to that level, and I couldn't afford a NovaDreamer (a similiar (and expensive device) for aiding dreamers). I found this link (http://brindefalk.solarbotics.net) which detailed the Kvaser dreammask. If you know your electronics its easy enough to do. You'd have to modify the circuit (to add the extended audio cues) and modify the coding for the additional logic. When people advertise nice electronic doodads that are simple enough, I usually see whether or not I can do it simpler and cheaper, with all the custom additions that I want. If the device is a Mhz or Ghz microprocessor, I'm not likely to get far, but a nice project in the back of a electronics magazine, certainly. And this device certainly falls into that category.
96% of the people I see on a day to day basis are male. Either there is a conspericy at work here or I chose the wrong damn profession.
Well, working in the gay porno section of the newsstand would probably be the reason why you see so few women.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
a wife translator :o)
Marge: Homer, has the weight loss tape reduced your appetite?
Homer: Ah, lamentably no. My gastronomic rapacity knows no satieties.
I'm surprised you haven't noticed yet just how homophobic many Slashdot readers really are. They'll be open minded when it comes to drugs or violating copyrights, but not when it comes to letting consenting adult males have sex with each other.
(You'd think straight male slashdotters would want as little competition for females as possible, actually)
Get off my launchpad!
would be if you put images of the goatse.cx in the dream machine.
i swear if someone did that to my machine, i d use a hot iron to brand -1 Troll on his forehead
I think your friend and mine, Carl Sagan, could help you out a lot:
statistics of small numbers -- a close relative of observational selection (e.g., "They say 1 out of every 5 people is Chinese. How is this possible? I know hundreds of people, and none of them is Chinese. Yours truly." Or: "I've thrown three sevens in a row. Tonight I can't lose.");
we are building a religion
a limited edition
we are now accepting callers
for these pendant key chains
I'd like to see a movie based on the development of this product. According to the article, they are experimenting on a number of company employees, which means a Takara employee's journal could easily read like a crash course in the Twilight Zone.
/.ers saying "That's it, I'm moving to Japan!" or equivalent phrases.
Then again, the employees already live in Japan, home of used panty vending machines. For the curious, the cost is supposedly 1000 per pair.
I now await a slew of replies from pseudo-clever
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
I used to get a kick out of getting guys to squirm when I lived in San Francisco with my girlfriend. Guys who only heard I was single would look at me weird, like I was contagious, and I'd just laugh, tell them that I loved it there, with so many gays it left more women for me, and they got really upset when I said they must be closet gays because real heterosexual males would rejoice at taking so many good looking sensitive guys out of competition for the women.
Infuriate left and right
true, there is lore of this unconfirmed rumor, but saying that "it's very possible" defies probability.
by an exageration of the same magnitude I could very possibly wake up next to nat. portman in the morning after such a dream.
ôó
I'm sure some people really do solve problems in their dreams, and goodness knows a good night's sleep always does help me. But I wonder how many people really solve problems in their dream, and how many people just think they've solved problems. I've managed to drag several ideas from my dreams back into the waking world, including quite a few semi-interesting sci-fi plots, but none of them are worth anything when examined in the light of the sun, except perhaps some entertainment value.
I was irritated by all the crumbs in my toaster. It was really starting to look gross.
Then, one night, I had a dream about sticking my toaster into the dishwasher.
In the light of day, it didn't seem so silly. After all, the dishwasher merely sprays hot water.
Now, the toaster can take heat - that's what it's designed to do.
The water was something else. The cord and plug are sealed, and even if they weren't, they'd be fine when they dried out. The nichrome heating elements are very corrosion-resistant, and the mica sheet which supports the nichrome isn't water soluble.
I was worried about the release mechanism. A close look revealed a solenoid, made of about 10 turns of fairly thick enamelled copper wire. When the bimetallic switch warps at the end of the toasting, the contacts open and the full load of the heating element is placed across the solenoid, causing it to release. Worst case, if the dishwasher were to take all the enamel off the solenoid, the toaster wouldn't release, and I'd rewind the solenoid with some old wire kicking around.
Then, detergent - it's quite corrosive and its deposits might be conductive. I decided to skip it, since crumbs are, by and large, going to disappear simply from the water spray.
So into the dishwasher it went, bottom rack. I tied the cord to the rack so it wouldn't get sucked into the pump. Full cycle, pots and pans mode, in my 1970 Maytag WU600.
A sidenote. The WU600 was Maytag's first automatic dishwasher. It has a 1/2hp motor direct driving a two stage centrifugal pump. It will take fried eggs off a poorly-seasoned cast iron frying pan, and it's extraordinarily loud. When it's running, it sounds like the world is coming to an end. When it's draining, the house rumbles like a freight train loaded with lead blocks is speeding by.
(A sidenote)^2. A quiet dishwasher is not a good thing. Since you cannot predict the shapes of the dishes people will stuff into it, nor can you predict *how* they'll stuff dishes into it, you cannot predict the flow of water after it leaves the spray arms. Therefore, you cannot predict the noise the water will make. To counter the noise, you could use insulation for a broad-spectrum white-noise deadening approach - but the dishwasher has to fit in a standard size hole, and 6" of sound deadening all around would massively eat into the dishwasher's capacity for dishes. The other option is to make the water leave the spray arms with less velocity - which will inherently reduce the cleaning power of the dishwasher. Shopping Tactic: Buy the loudest dishwasher you can find, it's the only one which won't require pre-rinsing your dishes.
Waited until the cycle was done. Opened the door, waited for the fog to clear off my glasses, and surveyed the damage... damage to the crumbs, that is. My toaster looked brand new. Even the carmelized brown stains at the edges of the slots were gone.
So, I let the toaster dry for a few hours, clicked down the handle, and plugged it in - briefly. There was a crackle and some smoke. And again... more crackle, more smoke. Seems that water would get between the layers of mica and would boil off when the nichrome heated up. The smoke was coming from fine bits of crumbs which had become wedged between the nichrome elements and the mica. Quick bit of power - more heat, more steam, more smoke, small crackle. Gently, gently tapping it on and off until there was no more crackling sound as water esca
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Things like this have been around for a while. I first heard about it in an episode of Ed, but doing some research proved interesting. It's called lucid dreaming. And people don't need a device to do it. All you need to do is to be aware that you are dreaming. Things like the inability to read words, or time standing still are cues that let you know you are dreaming. The first thing you need to do is to not wake yourself up. But once you get the hang of it, apparently you can control everything. You can make yourself fly, control scene changes. Apparently there are some things that make it easier to lucid dream including -get this -eating weird combinations of foods (ie pickles and peanut butter). I even came across a freeware program that would help you achieve lucid dreaming... The name and location eludes me, however. http://www.lucidity.com http://brain.web-us.com/lucid/luciddreamingFAQ.htm
Dreams are used by the unconscious to express its inner preoccupations, I dont think forcing dreams to be something is a good idea for human psyche health.
And I dont know about you but I find strange chaotic dreams way funnier then dreaming about a girl I can dream of while awake. That is if you like to find the meaning of your dreams (or are in therapy).
Sigs are for morons... Wait a minute...
As we all know, the subconscious is a powerful thing. Of course, this power is what facilitates stimuli becoming a collective dream. However, the subconscious also directs much of our decision-making process during the day. I'm not suggesting that this company would abuse that power, but it's always possible. Even if it wasn't with malicious intent, but a product of unpredictable circumstances in combination with the "life toy", what happens when a person's mind is altered for the worse?
The power of Christ compiles you.
A Random Blog
You can train yourself to become aware and even control your dreams. It's simple, though not particularly easy. It takes a lot of practice. The hardest part is to avoid what I'd call "newbie" mistakes, such as, suddenly you become aware, so you conjure, say Natalie P. or whomever you seek. Because the moment they appear, you realize you're in complete control. This causes you a great deal of excitement which in turn, wakes you up.
You CAN conjure these images, but you have to work up to it, and you need to be a bit more subtle about it so that you don't get the overexcitement that wakes you.
I did a lot of this in high school and my first two years of college. I began simply by waking up at 3:00am every morning and recording my dreams, then going back to sleep and then recording them again when I woke up again.
After a while, you'll begin becoming more aware of your dreams. At that point, you need to start thinking about taking control. This is usually a few weeks after you've started recording the dreams.
I wish I could still do it. It was a lot of fun. It takes a lot of work to get there, though.
And learn to control your dreams on your own. I found this site the other day, and have been doing the first exercise for 3 days now. I've managed to have lucid dreams (or at least semi-lucid) twice already. (lucid meaning you realize that you're dreaming) Once you're in a lucid dream, it's sort of like the Matrix... you know anything is possible, and can do anything you want.