Thanks for posting this VagalTone, I was just thinking about something in these lines, and glad to see StephL is bringing some data into the discussion ^^

Why are lucid dreams uncommon without training?
This one seems easy at first: Because there are particular changes in terms of several cognitive capabilities (mostly higher functions) that disable certain actions/thought processes that would allow the person to become lucid. Regardless of what we know/don't know about the function/characteristics of dream, we are well aware of several changes in our neural activity that limit our access to things like self-reflective state/meta-consciousness/short-term memory/logical reasoning/etc. If you think about it, this question is mostly irrelevant for our purposes as seekers of lucidity. The reasons for lack of lucidity are embedded in the core science of dreams itself, and I very much doubt lucid dreaming is the answer to understand the normal dreams.

We need to target a fundamental question, and stick with it. This (imo ofc) is the most important question for lucid dreaming right now:

What mechanisms are involved in lucidity?

Why is this extremely important?

- Because it would give researchers an important framework, and it would eliminate much of the "trunk of garbage" we currently have laying around the "streets" of lucid dreaming. In case anyone hasn't noticed, it's not good that we have so many techniques for achieving a DILD: it means we have no clue about the underlying processes about becoming lucid inside a dream. What we need to is strike into the core of what lucidity is, identify what makes us lucid, and determine what sort of cognitive practice(s)/function(s) have the biggest effect on those mechanisms.

- Because it would put us one step closer to solving the biggest obstacle to lucid dreaming research: we lack data. The only way we can better understand lucid dreaming as a science it's to increase the sample of lucid dreamers so studies can grow at the same time the field expands. This has practical advantages even outside the field, by linking lucid dreaming to health research, especially regarding mental health, sleep, physical/cognitive performance, sports psychology, etc etc.

Now, jumping into a possible answer:

We know (not just by the study that is in the LD news that StephL mentioned) that lucid dreaming state resembles a mixture of 2 distinct sides of the continuum of consciousness: sleep and waking. What happens in any lucid dream, is that your brain starts escalating this line, and the variability of the several aspects presents in the (now lucid) dream is due this fluctuation.

- Low lucidity exhibits signs of impaired memory, low reflective skills, poor dream control.
(I'm assuming that vividness is not an aspect of lucidity, but this is naturally debatable).

(And...I completely forgot where I was going with this...oh well)

As said - there was a study finding significantly less mental health problems in the 5-10 % LDers in the population (Germany probably).
Even if it was so, that the more healthy do more LD - it is a selection factor indirectly then.
Got to read the study, but it may as well just mean that healthy people have better sleep quality, resulting in more chances to lucid dream. Low sleep quality also relates to recall problems, thus less mentally health people would recall less lucid dreams: there's so much going on that these studies need to be perceived with caution. I do find the study interesting though

Of course it is hard-wired - how else do we do it?
You can't just "learn" to wire your core-consciousness into your dreams, when there are not already ways there, I believe.
Maybe Sageous didn't use the best words, but he does have a point. We're as hard wired to lucid dream as we're hard-wired to induce sleep paralysis. Lucid dreaming is not hard-wired into humans because it is neither automatic or innate. Children have particular reasons to experience more lds than adults, and still, it's not extremely common, like it would be if we were hard-wired to it.

But sorry - you can not tell me it was not lucidity to know, that I dream, even despite thinking I have too open the kitchen window - and then time and time again - go air-swimming.
That surely is lucidity - even with low control and understanding.
Now that's a complex aspect, and honestly I don't find it surprising that Sageous would be called on that one xD You must understand that for someone like him, lucidity is not just awareness of being in a dream, but knowledge. If you're running from a dinosaur in a lucid dream, do you really grasp the concept of being in a dream? What if you're unconsciously lucid, should that be considered a lucid dream? When Sageous talks about lucidity ( or maybe he's gonna correct me all over the place in his next post ), he's talking about understanding the ramifications of your state of consciousness, not just being aware of it, because as we all know, being aware that you're in a dream will never take you far into dream control.
On the other side, I completely agree with you here: I can be lucid and still be compelled to run from a dinosaur because I'm hardwired to: lucidity doesn't eliminate these kind of responses that are naturally present in our mental schemas. Maybe that work is not a product of lucidity itself (the activation of meta-consciousness), but an activation of other brain functions.... It would make sense right? Is meta-consciousness enough for dream control? And I'm confused once again...

Sageous, one question: you put a lot of emphasis on self-awareness, and it got me thinking: if self-awareness is an habit, what makes it more effective than the habit of reality checking? Because now that I think about it, DILD techniques seem to fall into 2 categories:

- Explicity memory (the power of habit);
- Implicit memory (prospective memory being the largest player in here, way ahead of retrospective memory)

I'm sure I didn't word the above correctly, but let's assume: if self-awareness is something you build throughout the years, then it would be an habit right? You have the ingrained habit of assessing your state of consciousness, so much that you do it without thinking (in the sense, without effort to intentionally recall it). But if it's merely an habit, what makes it more effective than reality checking? Come to think about it, self-awareness and reality checking are the same thing in practical terms: you assess your state of consciousness. What is the important keyword of lucidity after this: self-awareness or habit? Because if they are the same, the real question is: is the journey from beginner to frequent lucid dreaming a matter of balance between prospective memory vs habit, more of the first in the beginning, and then largely due the later one?

(I think my post sounds confusing as hell, but I'm too sleepy to revise it atm xD)