If dreams were to be recorded to video and audio

[Dissonance]

One of the things I'd like most to see in the future is a way to record a full nights worth of dreams to video and audio. Scientists have been working on this for some time, as you may know. I'd post some links to information about it but I haven't been a user for 7 days so apparently I'm not allowed. Basically, if this were to be mastered and you had access to the technology, you wouldn't have to make any effort to remember your dreams, and you could watch them back in full detail exactly how they happened. This is an ideal assumption, but let's play off of it for discussion's sake. I don't know if it's currently possible to recall dreams outside of rem/stage 1 (I haven't lurked here enough to know if any experienced users have recalled any dreams from deeper stages), but it would certainly unlock these dreams that would otherwise disappear. Naturally you'd never miss a lucid dream because upon watching it on video you'd recall the experience whether you initially remembered it or not. Would this be the ultimate dream tool? If you had access to it, would you use it? Would the lack of effort necessary to record the dreams affect the quality of your dreams in any way? I wonder if there are any cons to abusing technology like this or if it would simply revolutionize the means of recording dreams. Overall, in my generally uninformed opinion, I think it would be great. I'd record my dreams every night and watch the eventful ones, and archive them on DVDs and everything. The whole shabang.

[101Volts]

I think it might be useful in certain situations but isn't always necessary. Would I use it? Depends on the situation. I'd say yes, But not always.

[sleepysam]

it would be good but may cause some problems with jealous spouses etc i would use it sometimes

[JoannaB]

I think the not putting effort into dream recall would not work to make lucid dreaming likely. I think the effort is necessary as part of the process, so if someone just recorded the dream, the benefit of dream recall work may be lost. Some of my dreams I know I would not want to rewatch. For others it would be cool. I would still want to keep a dream journal, and it would be interesting to see the differences of what I recalled versus what the technology recorded. Personally, I would not always believe that the technology was right if there were differences. Dreams are a personal thing, and I would not want a machine telling me that I am wrong. Also a lot of my dream content is feelings and thoughts and a sense of what matters and what does not, and I don't believe a machine could accurately record all that, so the recording would just be part of the dream. PS: And what I mean by the effort is part of it: dream recall is not just about the end result of remembered dream, it is also about the process of getting there.

[Dragonaryteal]

I would use it every night but some tapes would need burned after watching. I don't think it would hurt my dreaming experience any but in fact enhance it. You have so many dreams every night and can only remember a few if any, so it would help interpret dreams if you can see it as a whole (maybe the one you remember coincides with another you forgot and changes the meaning). I would of course still put in the same effort to remember my dreams because a big part of interpretation is remembering how everything made you feel. I would try to recall how I felt but now i can see the whole dream in full detail which would help because I do forget details like colors of things even if I know that was important. Another reason I would want it is because I've seen some amazing, beautiful, unreal things in my dreams and would love to get some screen shots. It could be a new form of art, dream photography!

[TiredPhil]

The invention would have profound implications. Take a dose of DMT, or Salvia, or just get stoned on THC Record the amazing images, and conversations you have with the beings, aliens, spirits or dream characters. ( Whatever you believe in ) Forget going to the cinema to see a movie, just make one up in your dream world, and make millions on Youtube. The amount of porn on the internet is already high. Imagine how much there would be with this machine. Make a movie about interstellar travel. Paraplegic could see himself walk again. Train yourself to master your dreams with feedback from the machine. Find out why you are paranoid. See long dead relatives, back in your life again. Get evidence from a crime scene. Test medical theories. Communicate with people in comas. Make educational videos about everything. The list is far too long for even an encyclopedia to hold. Invent it, and I will trade in my Xbox, car, house, wife.

[trollmaster]

Sounds cool. I'd honestly probably spend a decent amount of time raging at myself on the tv throughout the entire vid for not realizing I'm dreaming. Kinda like watching a movie with dumb characters, lol.

[Sunfire]

I think it would be great to save some of the most memorable dreams on tape to look back on, jesus i bet some people have done some cool things! However i do agree with JoannaB to an extent, i think the dream recall is an excellent skill to learn. I feel the dream journal is vital for a Lucid noob like myself! I need the experience of writing down my dream, spotting patterns and irregularities to help me get used to realizing i am in a dream.

[KingYoshi]

It would make youtube 1,000x's better than it already is. I'd watch people's uploaded dreams daily. I'd definitely have my own youtube channel dedicated to my dream series'. Would be EPIC!

[101Volts]

I'm back to reply again, I'm going to have to vote "No" To this idea. I'll take the "Least" Route with this; I'd rather not wake up as Barney the Dinosaur or something with a hangover to see Pegasi flying around my head whistling the Star Spangled Banner. No, I haven't had any alcohol lately. But some of the Youtube videos I watched were weird and I'd rather not blur the lines of the awake world with DVD recordings of my dreams - Things are already quite bad enough without it.

[SIMDML]

It would be so freaking awesome! The sad thing about lucid dreams is that some people aren't open minded enough to care about it. You could share amazing adventures, epic stories and way more... I also agree with JoannaB, making no effort to remember dreams would just be lazy and would also be a kind of handicap to not be able to remember your lucids without having your brain plugged to a machine...

[TiredPhil]

You could prove out of body experiences to be fake/true See what a person sees when they die.

[KingYoshi]

You could prove out of body experiences to be fake/true See what a person sees when they die. Damn, didn't even think of that one. The "death vision" would be the Nobel Prize.

[stonedreams]

This would be so cool!! Although I do agree with Johanna, I would still keep a Dream journal!

[Sageous]

I'm not sure about this. I don't take personal videos or pictures of myself or my life during waking life, so why would I want to do so with dreams? I think the memory of an LD is enough for me. Also, I would bet that the "enhanced" memory of a NLD would tend to be better than the original anyway (though that does sort of make the case for having a machine to show people how far their memories of dreams can stray from what was actually dreamed). And, finally, JoannaB is correct: such a machine would not help LD'ing much, if at all. On a practical note, I've read some of the research on this, and it seems that the incredibly complexity, organic nature, and variation of dream processing from person to person will likely make viewing and recording dreams "clearly" pretty much impossible for a very very long time. Yes, researchers have recorded dreams, but those recordings resemble little more than Rorschach-like blobls color that require some very creative viewers to find any images. There was a movie from the '80's called "Brainstorms" that did a pretty good job covering this subject (though it wasn't about dreams specifically), and well worth watching if you're interested in this stuff.

[Dissonance]

On a practical note, I've read some of the research on this, and it seems that the incredibly complexity, organic nature, and variation of dream processing from person to person will likely make viewing and recording dreams "clearly" pretty much impossible for a very very long time. Yes, researchers have recorded dreams, but those recordings resemble little more than Rorschach-like blobls color that require some very creative viewers to find any images. Fair enough, though it's certainly interesting as a hypothetical question. And I like to remain optimistic about things, especially in regards to science. Our technology will continue to increase exponentially until we end ourselves with it somehow. But I'm guessing a way to record dreams with some degree of accuracy could certainly be possible before then. These images come from our brain somewhere, right? The information is in there somewhere, now it just needs to be discovered and interpreted. Obviously it's easier said than done, but I'd like to think it will happen in due time. By the way, the idea of watching death vision is one of the most mind blowing things. That has got to happen eventually.

[TiredPhil]

By the way, the idea of watching death vision is one of the most mind blowing things. That has got to happen eventually. Don't worry, we will all experience that one in person. Just do not be in a hurry, as sometimes, we get what we wish for.

[Dissonance]

Don't worry, we will all experience that one in person. Just do not be in a hurry, as sometimes, we get what we wish for. Death would ruin it for me, though.

[Sageous]

Death would ruin it for me, though. As far as we know...

[whatis]

I personally think the idea of recording to video and audio isn't really viable. I think that in dreams, as opposed to visual and auditory stimulation, the brain is playing with ideas and connections. Our mind pieces these ideas into something which may appear to us as a "visual" image, but I don't believe it could be translated in the same way. Perhaps a list of ideas which were accessed could be created, though.