Thread: If a Tree Falls in a Dream forest...

Well, I don't think there's anything separate in our dreams which is sentient. I think it's just our minds and a character isn't more alive than the ground they walk on. I once heard about a man who had an entire conversation with a bed frame. Objects can have self-awareness simply by talking to them or consciously making it so. If anything, maybe it's the dream itself that's aware because it's our mind that makes it. And if that's the case, technically the dream would be aware, because it's our mind and we are aware of ourselves.

I think characters behave the way they do based on expectations. Even while lucid, we don't consciously create every last detail. Some things are done on "auto-pilot." I think expectation and auto-pilot play a role into the things we don't consciously create in dreams. Whether lucid or non-lucid, when entering new environments, we expect the sky to be blue, the ground to be beneath us and not above, objects unable to speak, and people with personalities. And this might explain why DCs offer varied responses. If you consult a book for information, you expect it to be concise and have clear answers. If you consult a person for information, you may want them to have a proper answer, but you expect it to range from precisely correct to dead wrong.

Then, I think their varied behavior also revolves around creating people being a "high-level" technique. The idea of crafting a person doesn't sound as easy as flying or changing an object's color. It could be this "auto-pilot" has varying success on how complex characters are because to it, it's not as easy--or maybe not important--to creating the dream. Maybe its priorities--or the things that are easier for it--are focused on making sure the laws of gravity apply, you can still see, the ground remains intact, and things like that.

All in all, I think characters themselves are not aware, and that it's all a projection of the mind to give you the impression you're inhabiting a realistic world. It's kind of like making an avatar, whether you consciously mold its appearance and personality or just randomize it, it's not aware despite the seeming impression. But the ultimate creator behind the avatar is. So to translate back to lucid dreaming, characters aren't sentient regardless if we make them or they're as random as our dream setting. What's truly aware is our minds, which is the creator behind it all.

Though, there's still the idea that we can share dreams and other people might be occupying them. However, if that's true, they still wouldn't technically be dream characters, but other real-life people. I can't say these are even my beliefs on the matter, just my ideas.

Originally Posted by Screen

Well, I don't think there's anything separate in our dreams which is sentient. I think it's just our minds and a character isn't more alive than the ground they walk on. I once heard about a man who had an entire conversation with a bed frame. Objects can have self-awareness simply by talking to them or consciously making it so. If anything, maybe it's the dream itself that's aware because it's our mind that makes it. And if that's the case, technically the dream would be aware, because it's our mind and we are aware of ourselves.

I think characters behave the way they do based on expectations. Even while lucid, we don't consciously create every last detail. Some things are done on "auto-pilot." I think expectation and auto-pilot play a role into the things we don't consciously create in dreams. Whether lucid or non-lucid, when entering new environments, we expect the sky to be blue, the ground to be beneath us and not above, objects unable to speak, and people with personalities. And this might explain why DCs offer varied responses. If you consult a book for information, you expect it to be concise and have clear answers. If you consult a person for information, you may want them to have a proper answer, but you expect it to range from precisely correct to dead wrong.

Then, I think their varied behavior also revolves around creating people being a "high-level" technique. The idea of crafting a person doesn't sound as easy as flying or changing an object's color. It could be this "auto-pilot" has varying success on how complex characters are because to it, it's not as easy--or maybe not important--to creating the dream. Maybe its priorities--or the things that are easier for it--are focused on making sure the laws of gravity apply, you can still see, the ground remains intact, and things like that.

All in all, I think characters themselves are not aware, and that it's all a projection of the mind to give you the impression you're inhabiting a realistic world. It's kind of like making an avatar, whether you consciously mold its appearance and personality or just randomize it, it's not aware despite the seeming impression. But the ultimate creator behind the avatar is. So to translate back to lucid dreaming, characters aren't sentient regardless if we make them or they're as random as our dream setting. What's truly aware is our minds, which is the creator behind it all.

Though, there's still the idea that we can share dreams and other people might be occupying them. However, if that's true, they still wouldn't technically be dream characters, but other real-life people. I can't say these are even my beliefs on the matter, just my ideas.

Thanks for the comments screen. I look forward to seeing all your LDs. You had better post them in a DJ when you get them and not quit LDing before you get better.

I edited the OP since I realized that it was a little confusing (I am soooooo tired. Haha, does any one on this site know a cure for tiredness? Maybe something that I can do to make sleep seem less boring? :p)