Thread: Lucid Dream at science website

I go to slashdot.com all the time to read up on cool science info. Anyways, on thier latest news abotu vido game realism, they mentioned it achiving the quality of a Lucid Dream.

http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/10/13/1...?tid=206&tid=10

\"Here's another look at the 'Realism vs Style' debate. David Hayward, a level designer involved with UT2004 mod Alien Swarm, among others, has written an interesting essay on the aesthetics of videogames, suggesting that, similar to other art forms, the peak of realism in computer games might also be a plateau that acts as precursor to wider experimentation: \"We've come a long way since the flint-carved figures of early 3D games, but there's still progress to make before we're producing the game equivalent of sixteenth century marbles. Though it makes for a myopic obsession when compared to the vastness of the picture plane, photo-realism is nonetheless a worthwhile technological achievement to aim for, because it is through this that games will attain the sensation of a lucid dream.\"\"[/b]

the responces to the post go on to tlel of a bunch of peopel sharing thir lucid experinces

Lucid dreams don't have to be photorealistic.

How long is it going to be before LD's are basically understood by the masses? lol.

I think that video games will never be able to compare to lucid dreams for two reasons. One being that many lucid dreams have "graphics" which are more real than life, which are right there infront of you, and which can be touched, felt, smelled, and tasted, while video games remain on a screen and lack all of the aforementioned senses. The second reason being that each game always has its limitations, but in a lucid dream, you are god. You control location, the laws of physics, your form, everything. No game can allow you to do anything. So yeah. The only upside that video games have over lucid dreaming is that you can play a video game whenever, while a lucid dream is a lot harder to enter.

Thats an interesting question - if video games will ever compete with dreaming, let alone lucid dreaming. I would venture to say no, unless we got jacked into them like in The Matrix - only then could the video game come even close to matching the speed of our thoughts and fears and bounce back real challenges to our true selves. This idea gets very weighty and philosophical really fast, but hey thats what dreaming tends toward..

Originally posted by Wayward Oneironaut
This idea gets very weighty and philosophical really fast, but hey thats what dreaming tends toward..

I say we try to tend it toward another way.

It may not be that dreaming tends towards philosophy, but that for so long we have tended to treat it that way, creating an accident of appearances that it actually is that way.

Whats so wrong with becoming philosophical? Personally, I don't think we do enough of it, especially in America. Thats not to say, of course, that we don't, but we seem to resist looking within ourselves for answers. Thats what I mean by being philosophical, not a hokey question like which came first the chicken or the egg, but rather bigger questions, like the question of free will, or where the seat of our soul and our consciousness, really is. It sounds to me, Ex Nine, like you want to make the case for us being like dreaming robots, entranced by our own fantasy, but I would argue that we are not here by accident, but rather to discover the exact opposite - we have unlimited power and potential if we have the strength to accept the responsiblity of it, and the strength to let go our attachment to our own need for control.

Nothing wrong with philosophy. Actually, I think it's very important to have clearly understood philosophical underpinnings to an investigation. I'm just saying we shouldn't stop there.

Not sure if the rest of your claims are substantiated... like the robot thing. I think I already said that I'm looking not only for knowledge but a reliable and stable path to knowledge.

I assume everyone is looking for the same, but then maybe I should keep an open mind.

Are you seeking knowledge or truth? A nice, stable path to knowledge is simple - open an encyclopedia every night and read (repeat every night). Thats a sure fire way to increase your knowledge in a nice, stable way. The question really is can you use that knowledge to make broader connections and, ultimately, to further your understanding of truth. I'm not trying to sound high and mighty, cause I know I ain't, rather just expanding upon my earlier thoughts. I guess what I am really getting at is that this universe seems to me to be based upon irrational, illogical quantum stuff, and that the true path to self-discovery is through feeling rather than amassing a bunch of knowledge. There are benfits to either path, I guess, but you really can't awaken inside through the acceptance of outer wisdom alone, sometimes you must go inside, and thus thats why lucid dreaming excites me - there are few other times when you can completely withdraw into yourself and experience your own fears for what they are without worrying about other people labeling things for you like in waking life. Anyway, I enjoy talking about this weird stuff and don't mean to slight you in anyway, maybe just to give you a broader context, or at least a different viewpoint, in your quest for knowledge and truth.

Actually, I do reference an encyclopedia at least once a day. Some days I'm at it for hours!

The question really is can you use that knowledge to make broader connections and, ultimately, to further your understanding of truth[/b]

And not just that, but if you can really use that truth to benefit yourself, your friends, and all other things in your environment.

I guess what I am really getting at is that this universe seems to me to be based upon irrational, illogical quantum stuff, and that the true path to self-discovery is through feeling rather than amassing a bunch of knowledge.[/b]

Feeling absolutely must play a part. It is central to who we are. But we must not mistake it for everything. And quantum stuff may just be very complex, not necessarily irrational or illogical. People once thought that it was irrational for the Earth to be moving ("Why don't we fly off of it?"). In fact, there is quite a bit of probabilistic uniformity and simplicity in QM. Check out some java applets of electron probability distributions at this site, for instance.

http://www.falstad.com/mathphysics.html

I don't mean to slight you either. I'm trying to offer you a broader context and a different viewpoint. I'm glad we're both looking out for each other, though.

I've done quite a bit of inward looking, meditation, prayer, and fabulous amounts of LDing. I've realized there are many more discoveries to make, but we are not likely to make permanent advances without the stability, openness, and forward momentum of logic and science.

I know you can appeal to that best-of-both-worlds kind of thing.