Dreams “displayed” on computers

This article first appeared on November 9th, 2011.

Scientists predict we could soon use computers to “see” what we have dreamed about, and perhaps even record dreams to watch the next day.

Psychiatrists at Munich’s Max Planck Institute think they’ve already demonstrated that brain scanners can see into the dreams of “lucid dreamers” – people who can control their dreams.

It means recent breakthroughs in “reading” the thoughts of waking subjects, using brain monitors, could apply to dreamers too.

The Max Planck Institute scientists proved scans of lucid dreamers’ dreams looked the same as scans of their brain when they do the same thing while conscious.

The research could be used with “reconstruction” technology to create moving images of people’s dreams, which would bring new meaning to the phrase “You read my mind”.

While this concept might seem a little far-fetched – and somewhat obscure from a business perspective – any translation of the human mind is fascinating to consumers, so maybe it’s worth looking into.