Thread: Inception-Reality Checks!

So I just saw inception today and he had a very unique reality check!

He had one of these. When he spinned it and it kept going and never fell he was in a dream. If he spinned it and it did fall he was awake. What are your guys thoughts on this?

i loved that movie it was great, as for the reality check seems worth a shot, spinning a top on a table

I was also wondering if it would work that way in dreams or not. It wouldn't be hard to find out but it would probably be subjective depending on who did it. I don't expect it would make a very reliable reality check because of the time it takes tops to fall in real life, you would have to wait fo it to fall to know. Also I don't see why it wouldn't fall over in a dream unless you expected it not to. Last you would need a flat stable surface to test it on which might not be always an option in real life.

There has been a lot of discussion of the use of that reality check in the other threads. I didn't really know what they were talking about though... I've not seen the film yet.

However. I think it would be a great reality check. I think I'll do that.
Because it's not like, just a lazy reality check, it is the active use of both your body and your mind.
And it's cool in general anyways.


But one thing to think about it the way it would happen in a dream. It will happen if you expect it to happen. So if you often use that reality check, and you do it right, I think it would work.

And just keep in mind that it's not all about whether or not it works. It's also about how you are actually thinking about it. 99 times out of 100 you will realise it's a dream even if the top stops spinning. Just because you were thinking about it.

i was thinking of this. seems like a good strategy. basically a dreamsign but in the movie they used it as a reality sign of sorts to not get attached to the dreamworld.

i think everyone should have something unique, like in the movie. by the way, what was ariadne's totem? a hollow chess piece?

i wanted to see if i can dream up a compass and see if it spins or moves around, once i grasp lucidity pretty good.

I thought the idea of having an individual totem was pretty neat.

On the other hand, there's not much of a point to it. In the movie, the dreamers had to be sure that they weren't trapped in a dream that another Architect had created. I think the idea was that the Architect could basically make physics follow whatever rules they wanted, so regular reality checks wouldn't work.

Yeah..thanks for your guys opinions! I actually am trying this but each time you spin it you got to believe it wont fall or in a dream it would just fall!

Originally Posted by Samael

I thought the idea of having an individual totem was pretty neat.

On the other hand, there's not much of a point to it. In the movie, the dreamers had to be sure that they weren't trapped in a dream that another Architect had created. I think the idea was that the Architect could basically make physics follow whatever rules they wanted, so regular reality checks wouldn't work.

Yea, but to be honest, if we can think of a way to use it as a normal reality check (which we have), then it is fine.

Originally Posted by Mancon123

Yeah..thanks for your guys opinions! I actually am trying this but each time you spin it you got to believe it wont fall or in a dream it would just fall!

Yea, exactly. Just spin it, and do the same as what you would do in a dream to make it keep spinning. Whatever your method is. Mine would be moving my hands around it like telekinesis and saying to myself "spin, spin, spin"

Mine would be just willing it to keep spinning.

The problem with the top is that it would be an indefinite exercise. Other reality checks involve a quick test as to whether you're dreaming. You look at the clock, the numbers scramble. You look at your hand, you have extra fingers. The spinning top would be too easy to lose interest in, or to dismiss it as about to fall anyway. It's different for everyone, I suppose.

The interesting thing about the totems in Inception was that everyone had their own, unique reality check. I think it would be more interesting to try to come up with your own totem than just taking the main one from the movie.

tl;dr: Spinning tops take too long to be useful as a reality check. YMMV.

good thread, i had similar thoughts after seeing the movie twice (IT IS AN AMAZING MOVIE!!!!!). i am going to find a unique totem and try to remember to do reality checks throughout the day. =]

The memory check RC in the movie was totally real though, and the totem thing could work, just not using a top. Expect it to fall and it will, which is why it won't apply in a LD.

The reason it works for him is because its a special top. The reason he uses it as a totem is because his wife had it and for her it always kept spinning in dreams. Thats why he knows that if this is a dream it will keep spinning and thats what makes it keep spinning for him. If someone else was to spin the same top in there own dream with out knowing about it it would almost certainly fall over eventualy.

the reality check i like the most in Inception its when they are both in a Paris cofee


Cobb: Well dreams, they feel real while we're in them, right? It's only when we wake up that we realize how things are actually strange. Let me ask you a question, you, you never really remember the beginning of a dream do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on.
Ariadne: I guess, yeah.
Cobb: So how did we end up here?
Ariadne: Well we just came from the a...
Cobb: Think about it Ariadne, how did you get here? Where are you right now?
Ariadne: We're dreaming?
Cobb: You're actually in the middle of the workshop right now, sleeping. This is your first lesson in shared dreaming. Stay calm.

I think it's probably been said already but I thought I should weigh in regardless ..
Firstly I love Inception, it's what really got me into lucid dreaming in the first place, so don't see this as bashing the movie or anything

I just believe that a totem such as the spinning top wouldn't be completely reliable, it all relies on your own perception and expectations just as most things in dreams do. The whole idea in the film was that they were completely unique to the person so that they knew they weren't in someone else's head and therefore it couldn't be replicated the way they remembered it. I can see this working as a check but only if you truly expected it to topple in a dream and gave it enough time and strongly believed you were already dreaming. If you did it as a casual passing check as if you were still awake it would still behave as such, as if you were awake and would topple simply due to you thinking you're awake and your expectation of it saying it should topple.