You've probably dreamed at some point that you were communicating with a person, perhaps someone who is far away from you or whom you simply haven't seen for a long time. Of course, all this communication is happening only in your imagination, that is, it is a “scene” played out by the brain. But imagine that in the future, perhaps, we will really be able to communicate like this. It sounds like complete science fiction, like the movie “Inception”, but scientists have already conducted a successful experiment in which two sleeping people were able to communicate with each other in their sleep.
For the first time, two people were able to exchange messages with each other in their sleep. Image source: medium.com
How people can communicate in their sleep
The technology in question is based on the technique of lucid dreaming. We previously reported that this is a special sleep technique that can be practiced during the REM phase, or rapid eye movement phase. It is during this phase that we have our most vivid dreams. During lucid dreaming, a person not only sees a dream, but also realizes that he is therefore fully aware of himself. This allows you to control your dream, change its scenario, etc. Some studies have shown that you can even drive a car in real life while in a lucid dream.
Now scientists have discovered that lucid dreams can open up new dimensions of communication. The study was conducted by employees of REMspace, a company that strives to make lucid dreaming the next innovative achievement of humanity after artificial intelligence.
People were able to exchange messages during a lucid dream
According to the authors of the work, lucid dreams allow people to immerse themselves in a fully developed reality, where they can see, hear, touch, smell, taste, experience pleasure and pain, or even change their body and gender. That is, reality is almost the same as physical reality, but at the same time has no rules and restrictions – you can fly like a bird, walk on water, go to the past, etc.
How people were able to communicate with each other
A recent experiment involved two volunteers sleeping at home while their brain waves and other polysomnographic data were monitored by a specially designed device. Both volunteers' devices were synchronized with each other because they were connected to the same server that processed the information.
When the server detected that one of the participants in the experiment had entered a lucid dream based on the data it received, it generated a random word, “Remmyo,” and sent it to him via headphones. The participant heard the word and repeated it in his sleep, and the response was recorded and saved on the server. Why was it important for the person to repeat the word rather than write down their message? This allowed the scientists to be sure of the accuracy of the system. That is, the researchers had no doubt that the word was written correctly.
After some time, the next participant also entered a lucid dream and received a message from the first participant. Upon waking up, the participant confirmed that he had received a message from the sleeping person and was able to pronounce the word. The result was the first “chat” in human history in which people exchanged information in their sleep.
The company also reports that two other people were able to exchange messages with the server during a lucid dream. The developers were able to achieve such results after five years of work and meticulous research. However, they are not going to stop there.
Will people be able to communicate in their sleep?
The technology is currently in its early stages of development. While people can only exchange words, engineers are working to make communication more complete and real-time.
Developers consider the technology to be in demand, but in reality it raises questions
According to the developers themselves, developing this technology may be difficult, but they are optimistic and expect to achieve results within a few months. Progress is already noticeable with each new attempt to establish communication.
“Yesterday, communication in sleep seemed like science fiction. Tomorrow, it will become so commonplace that we will not be able to imagine our lives without this technology,” said Michael Raduga, founder and CEO of REMspace.
But despite the optimism of the developers, the prospects of the technology are still questionable. To master the technique of lucid dreaming, a certain environment is required. And even those people who have mastered this technique well do not always manage to fully control their sleep. This was well demonstrated in the above-mentioned study, when people tried to drive virtual cars in their sleep. Therefore, it is unlikely that full-fledged conscious communication in a dream will be possible.
Be sure to visit our Zen and Telegram channels, here you will find the most interesting news from the world of science and the latest discoveries!
In addition, to communicate with a person in a lucid dream, you need to be in it at the same time as him. Agree, this is less convenient than just making a video call. Therefore, the technology proposed by REMspace is unlikely to become a reliable means of communication in the foreseeable future, similar to those that already exist. But, in any case, the idea is interesting, and perhaps someday it will be possible to implement it.