Thread: 4 Things I never knew about dreams...

Originally Posted by Kiss Me

6. We Only Dream of What We Know
Our dreams are frequently full of strangers who play out certain parts - did you know that your mind is not inventing those faces - they are real faces of real people that you have seen during your life but may not know or remember? The evil killer in your latest dream may be the guy who pumped petrol in to your Dad’s car when you were just a little kid. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces through our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.

~Okay, I knew this all along; you can't dream about something you've never seen or heard of before. But, it slipped my mind that DC's are the same way! Basically you have come in contact with all of your DC's. Whether it be talking to them briefly on a bus or seeing them walk down the street! There was an amazing dream character who I will never forget. He was gorgeous, and in that particular dream we were a couple. I just wonder where I saw him. That'd be weird if I saw him one day!

This one I'm just not too sure about. For one thing, there is no way that this can be concretely determined, and I know good and well that some of the things (creatures) I've dreamed about I have never seen nor heard of in any fictional work. My mind came up with them all by itself.

Now, dream characters' faces being those of people you've seen at some previous point I can understand, but the human mind is an incredible thing, and more than capable of coming up with a plausible arrangement of features to comprise a face.

Don't believe everything you read.

yeah.. i've had dreams about girls i'm pretty sure i've never seen before. I think my mind probably made them up, but if i really have seen them, i want to see them again!

Originally Posted by Man of Steel

This one I'm just not too sure about. For one thing, there is no way that this can be concretely determined, and I know good and well that some of the things (creatures) I've dreamed about I have never seen nor heard of in any fictional work. My mind came up with them all by itself.

Now, dream characters' faces being those of people you've seen at some previous point I can understand, but the human mind is an incredible thing, and more than capable of coming up with a plausible arrangement of features to comprise a face.

Don't believe everything you read.

Dreams are based on the schemata, so this is partially true.

However, our schemata can create new things out of what we've experienced. You have an idea, it connects to what you expect, it connect, again and again, etc.

You see a palm tree, and the sun shines against it. You expect the shadow of a palm tree on the ground, and its there before you.

Now you see one of Steel's crazy Ewok-kryptonians, which you've never seen before, but it leaves a clear shadow just as definite.

Im sure it's possible to imagine a new face, or have your sub-concious make one for you. I don't really focus on strangers but im sure if i looked into a crowd i could find some new people, slightly off-topic but where does this the sub-concious can remember much more than our concious can come from, surely natural selection would have made us use our memory to the best of our ability. Maybe it is better used in that way but i just cant see why or how it could be like that.

i believe your mind your mind can make a new face in your dreams just using characteristics in people's faces you have already seen, like a scar in a certain place or something

At your second point (Point 6), I find rather strange. If you can make up places with your mind why can't you make up faces? Maybe it's kinda like Hume's ideas, where a 'simple idea' is a concrete copy of a memory, and a 'complex idea' is a combination of many simple ideas, or taking a simple idea and changing it in certain ways.

That's my belief anyway, I don't know how they could prove otherwise

if we can make stuff up in the waking world, who is to say we cant make stuff up in dreams?

cause im pretty sure the guy who came up with what freddy kreuger looked like didnt see him somewhere filling up a gas tank

so obviously that factoid is full of shit (pardon my foul language)

Originally Posted by Acertine

if we can make stuff up in the waking world, who is to say we cant make stuff up in dreams?

cause im pretty sure the guy who came up with what freddy kreuger looked like didnt see him somewhere filling up a gas tank

so obviously that factoid is full of shit (pardon my foul language)

One strange thing I read about dreaming is that if one is snoring they can not be dreaming.

It would explain why the person I live with rarely remembers his dreams. He snores so loudly I wonder how the hell he doesn't inhale his face during.

We only dream what we know...

It's true, but it's not that concrete. Imagine designing a level for a computer game, and you have access to thousands of different textures, sounds etc. Then indeed, you are limited by those elements; however, the way in which these are combined is limitless. Dream worlds are synonymous.

With regards to faces, it would seem intuitive to assume that we accept faces holistically. However, it is also plausible to suggest that faces can be reduced to their core components, e.g. nose, eyes, mouth etc. Thus, it is possible that new faces can be invented by utilising pre-experienced components just as environments are too.

Originally Posted by Quark

We only dream what we know...

It's true, but it's not that concrete. Imagine designing a level for a computer game, and you have access to thousands of different textures, sounds etc. Then indeed, you are limited by those elements; however, the way in which these are combined is limitless. Dream worlds are synonymous.

With regards to faces, it would seem intuitive to assume that we accept faces holistically. However, it is also plausible to suggest that faces can be reduced to their core components, e.g. nose, eyes, mouth etc. Thus, it is possible that new faces can be invented by utilising pre-experienced components just as environments are too.

This is spot on what I believe. otherwise, realistically, you couldn't dream about people with abnormal features, since you never saw them anyway(lets say someone with a long noise or funky eyes).

It was quite the cool list.

Yeah, this shows how important dreams really are!

I also think my mind has made up things while dreaming that I have never seen before. Mainly the worlds I have created. I have visited worlds in my dreams that were so bizarre I could not even begin to describe them, and they were so crazy I really feel I would remember if I had seen them in a movie or book or something.

Originally Posted by Quark

We only dream what we know...

It's true, but it's not that concrete. Imagine designing a level for a computer game, and you have access to thousands of different textures, sounds etc. Then indeed, you are limited by those elements; however, the way in which these are combined is limitless. Dream worlds are synonymous.

With regards to faces, it would seem intuitive to assume that we accept faces holistically. However, it is also plausible to suggest that faces can be reduced to their core components, e.g. nose, eyes, mouth etc. Thus, it is possible that new faces can be invented by utilising pre-experienced components just as environments are too.

That basically covers every possible scenario. It's synonymous with dreaming of the unknown.

I am 100% number 6 is false. I've created so many bizarre faces I'd be bound to remember AT LEAST one of them from the real world. Another thing, (not to brag, but) I have a pretty decent memory and I'm an imaginative person. Where could they have possibly gotten this info that you can't create/imagine faces? It's not like they took something and recorded every person someone has ever seen and analyzed every one of their dreams. I'm sure that some people you see that stick out, are in your dreams occasionally. This also gave me a pretty good idea, maybe someone can go up to a DC and ask them where you two have met before, and see what they say.

Originally Posted by Man of Steel

This one I'm just not too sure about. For one thing, there is no way that this can be concretely determined, and I know good and well that some of the things (creatures) I've dreamed about I have never seen nor heard of in any fictional work. My mind came up with them all by itself.

Now, dream characters' faces being those of people you've seen at some previous point I can understand, but the human mind is an incredible thing, and more than capable of coming up with a plausible arrangement of features to comprise a face.

Don't believe everything you read.

Good point. Imagination creates new knowledge by making new combinations out of old knowledge.

so you could say, you don't only dream what you know, but you also dream about new knowledge. new combinations.

but, you could also say, you only dream what you know, apparent new knowledge is only based on old knowledge. recombination.

both statements are the same, eventho they are paradoxial.