1 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. 3 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: This is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Duga, and we 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,319 Speaker 1: both researched this podcast yesterday. Um did a lot of 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: our research yesterday and you know, a little bit you know, 6 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: on the other days prior. But but then we both 7 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: went home to our respective houses, went to sleep and dreamed. 8 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: So here's the question, did your dreaming last night help 9 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: you prepare it all for this podcast? You know, normally 10 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: I would be able to answer that question because I 11 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: remember quite a few of my dreams, But I really 12 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: don't remember my dreams outside. I can only assume that, uh, 13 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: I was hopefully covering the material. Well, I'm on my part. 14 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,040 Speaker 1: I don't always remember my dreams, but I remember the 15 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: one last night because I was dreaming that my cat 16 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: had a guest starring role on thirty Rock. And then 17 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: I woke up to the sound of the cat barfing. Um, 18 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,479 Speaker 1: which generally happens, like the cat starts barfing or even 19 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: beginning to barf somewhere in the house, and I just 20 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:16,679 Speaker 1: wake up like that and immediately go into this sort 21 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: of half awake must keep the cat from barfing on 22 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: soft things mode, you know, right like on blankets and 23 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: wool carpets, you go into triosh. Yeah, but it did 24 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: not really help this podcast at all. Not to say 25 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,479 Speaker 1: that something in my in my dream cycle didn't help, 26 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: but it's like it wasn't. Yeah, but there wasn't like 27 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: a situation where I was like, how are we going 28 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: to do that intro tomorrow and then like a man 29 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:41,559 Speaker 1: appeared to me in the like into in the dream 30 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: like I don't know, like um, like some you know, 31 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: podcasting deity appears and says, this is how you will 32 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: do it. You will both talk about how the night 33 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: before your dreams inspired, you know, like there was nothing 34 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: like I was gonna say Ira Glass, but that didn't 35 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: sound like Ira Glass. That's not Ira Glasses, Boice. But 36 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: but Ira Glass would have been a good good pick 37 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: for that that dream vision. Um. But the interesting thing 38 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: is you do see plenty of really cool examples of 39 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: UH and and all of them are potentially problematic UH 40 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: of creative people or even scientific you know, or rather 41 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: artistically geared people or scientifically geared people, UM getting something 42 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,080 Speaker 1: out of their dreams, some sort of inspiration or some idea, 43 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: you know, this like this moment of like inception that 44 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: just uh that now enables them to create some great 45 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: work or or or solve some problem that was nagging 46 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,679 Speaker 1: them in their daily life. Yeah. Yeah, And that makes 47 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: sense because the mind, I've always said, plays with what 48 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,680 Speaker 1: it loves, and if you're working on a problem day 49 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: after day, of course it's going to show up in 50 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: your dreams. Yeah. So I guess mine is something to 51 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,519 Speaker 1: do with like my Cat and thirty Rock. But yeah, 52 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: I think that you have a wish fulfillment for for 53 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: Biscuit to show up on a thirty Rock episode, and 54 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: who doesn't now I have we talked about this earlier. 55 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: I think we've both had examples where, um, we've had 56 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: something in a dream that we've been able to take 57 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:08,119 Speaker 1: and run with like a creative fashion. Um. Sometimes those 58 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: ideas have worked for me. Um, and I've been able 59 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: to like, you know, be like a really cool image 60 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: that I'm like, oh I can take that and and 61 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: extrapolate on that and and feel like, you know, I 62 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: create something interesting, say fiction wise, out of it. Have 63 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: you found that to be the case, Yeah, yeah, definitely. Um, 64 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: when I've been writing fiction, I've there have been certain 65 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: scenes that came to me as if fully formed. Um 66 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: it wasn't. The actual story wasn't fully formed, but there 67 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: was a very visceral idea of of this thing that 68 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: became the plot for something. And I've also uh had 69 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: dreams when I've had a conflict with someone and and 70 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: had was talking in that dream about the conflict with 71 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: that person, and that really seemed to help gain a 72 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: better perspective, like I know I've had I have. I 73 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: think I have a lot of dreams where I'm it 74 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: probably comes of like being fascinated by subway systems and 75 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: public transportation systems that are rail based or subterranean in nature, 76 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: and also from taking Atlanta's public transportation Marta every day. 77 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: I frequently have these dreams of sort of like vast 78 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: like unreal um subterranean public transit systems, you know, and 79 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,840 Speaker 1: lots of lots of sort of very very fantastic um 80 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: settings that are all sort of subway based. So do 81 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: you have a sort of continuity in your dreams and 82 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: there's this universe that you've created that you can revisit. Yeah, 83 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: And so I've gotten some ideas out of that where 84 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: I'm where I sort of like in my waking um 85 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 1: hour sort of think back on that world and sort 86 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 1: of try to apply form and function to it that 87 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: doesn't exist in the dream. So you're working on your 88 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: dreams in your waking life. Yeah, some I guess, but 89 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: but it's more like I, like I said, I feel 90 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: like I'm definitely applying in order to it that doesn't 91 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: exist in the dream. On the other hand, I've also 92 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: had like one particular example that I always come back 93 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: to is what I referred to as the hell pimple dream, 94 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 1: where I had this dream and it's like I woke 95 00:04:58,800 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: up in the night and I'm like, this is a 96 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: fabulous story idea, so it will be about a hell 97 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: pimple where I think the basis was that you have 98 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: the surface world and then Hell and then there's like 99 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: a pimple coming up from Hell into this. And anyway, 100 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: when I woke up at like, you know, three o'clock 101 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:17,040 Speaker 1: in the morning, uh, this time, it was like, this 102 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: is a great idea. This is the best idea ever. 103 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: And I like wrote it down on the pad and 104 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: then came back to it. I'm like, wow, this is 105 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: just so monumentally stupid, you know. So had you been 106 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: reading Dante before that possibly also I have read Dante 107 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: before that seems like it could be like a hell 108 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: pimple sort of indirect thing happening there. Um. Well, what 109 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: I think is really interesting about this is, especially the 110 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: Subpremian dreams, is that you did create that continuity and 111 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 1: that there is there's something going on in our dream lives. Um. 112 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 1: That indicates that we do have an area to work 113 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: out our problems or ideas. But then you've got cognitive 114 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 1: scientists Stephen Pinker, And he's the same guy, by the way, 115 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: who when we were covering music UM and and how 116 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: it can rebuild your brain in that podcast, he's the 117 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: guy that said that auditory cheesecake is something um that 118 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: he could ascribe to the ability of humans to play music, 119 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: saying appreciate music, so on and so forth, that it 120 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: didn't necessarily add to any sort of um function in 121 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 1: evolutionary sense. Yeah, he's he provides a really sobering note 122 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: to to other researchers who make a really lofty will 123 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: not lofty, but make a really you know, strong claim 124 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 1: that that music is a really essential part of who 125 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: we are and serves a specific purpose. Yeah. Yeah, so 126 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: I mean, he's like the kill joy right of all 127 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: the fun things, and when it comes to dreams, same thing. 128 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: Not to say we don't need kill joys, I mean 129 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: we need somebody to say, WHOA slow down there, guys, 130 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,040 Speaker 1: don't get too excited, get too excited about this, because 131 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: there is something in our nature we want to give 132 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: meaning to these things, you know, and because they're important 133 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: to us, and so we think therefore, oh well, you know, 134 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: of course my dream is important. Um. So he likens 135 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: dreams to computer screen savers, and you know, we're just 136 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: totally depressing. He says, it doesn't really matter what the 137 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: content is as long as certain parts of the brain 138 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: are active. That being said, there's a lot of data 139 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: out there now that say that we can point to 140 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: and say, okay, well, dreams actually are a huge function 141 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: of the way that we are processing information, and that's 142 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: what we're talking about today. So I'm gonna run through 143 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: a few examples of of of ways that first artists 144 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: from a different spectrum have have claimed that dreams have 145 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: inspired their work. Um and uh, you know, without spending 146 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: a whole lot of time, I do you have people 147 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: like Salvador Dolly of course claimed dreams stimulated his work. 148 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: You have a number of filmmakers such as Mark Bergmann 149 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: uh Felini. Um, you have authors such as Robert Louis 150 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: Stevenson and Mary Shelley. Um, you know Dr jack On, 151 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: Mr Hyde, Frankenstein. There's the whole business with Paul McCartney 152 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: was claiming yesterday, Um, he heard it in in his 153 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: dream right right, the melody yeah, and immediately got up 154 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: and started playing on the piano. And this is just 155 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: a biographically kind of interesting that he was in the 156 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: midst of filming Help, and he was staying in his 157 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: parents attic in a small room, and so I mean, 158 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: it's interesting that he composed this completely nostalgic piece of 159 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: music in a really important time of his life. Well 160 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,839 Speaker 1: sidebar there. Yeah. And one of my favorites is the 161 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 1: tale of Joe R. Landsdale, who's kind of a weird 162 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 1: southern Southern Gothic noir writer. Uh still writing, putting out 163 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,200 Speaker 1: a number of novels today. But he he claimed to 164 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:49,199 Speaker 1: have this thing where anytime he was hard up for 165 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: a story idea, couldn't think of anything, he would have 166 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: his wife make him a big bowl of popcorn and 167 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: he would like just gorge himself on and then go 168 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: to bed, and which would result in like these crazy dreams. 169 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: And he claims that anytime that those dreams gave him 170 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: like even something he could like grab onto and turn 171 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 1: into a story, he was able to sell that story 172 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: with with like, you know, the first time he submitted 173 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 1: it to a publication. That's pretty great. So that the 174 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,680 Speaker 1: popcorn was like this symbolic like mental activity. Yea lucky 175 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,440 Speaker 1: red socks and yeah, and and also you know, like 176 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: in our recent podcast about the Gut, we talked about 177 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: how inner about the link between our gastro intestinal activity 178 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: and our neural activity in the brain, and how there's 179 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: this you know, they're this, they're linked, and so you know, 180 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,959 Speaker 1: it's like he's stimulating the brain by stimulating the gut 181 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: and getting these crazy stories out of it. I think 182 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: I knew what I'm doing this weekend. I'm going to 183 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: try that out. I tried with pickles once, and I 184 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: think it were I mean not, I didn't set out to. 185 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: It's just I ended up eating like two or three 186 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,079 Speaker 1: like big like you know, Boar said pickles before I 187 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:54,199 Speaker 1: went to sleep and had some sort of weird dreams. 188 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: But you also encounter. Of course, scientists who who claimed 189 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: to have have have made that, you know, come up 190 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,199 Speaker 1: with that one key step they were missing or or 191 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:05,839 Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of like in the back of 192 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: the Future, you know where you have Dr Emmitt Brown claiming, 193 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: you know where he he envisions the flux capacitor that 194 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: makes time travel possible in a dream, which is a 195 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: great way to explain the unexplainable um away. Yeah, and 196 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:21,199 Speaker 1: we'll get into that in a in a minute too, 197 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:25,959 Speaker 1: because because again, all these examples of somebody claiming dream 198 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: inspiration are are at once believable and potentially problematic because 199 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 1: it realies on your personal experience right right, and unverifiable. Yeah, 200 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:38,439 Speaker 1: and I mean what was what's going to get into 201 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: this part? Yeah, it's there's something about even in in 202 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,320 Speaker 1: even today, when we know, I think most of us 203 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: know that a dream is not that a line talking 204 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 1: to you, there's still the dream world is mysterious. And 205 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: to say that an idea came to you in a dream, um, 206 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: you know it, it kind of elevates that that idea. 207 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:00,840 Speaker 1: It's it's like saying, you know, I got this idea 208 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: from a dream, I got this idea from uh you know, 209 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:05,240 Speaker 1: there's a sense that I got it from another world. 210 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:08,560 Speaker 1: There's a sense I got it from a from the muse. 211 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: It's so or it's it's just sort of a symbol 212 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: out of a mysterious you know process, and and and 213 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: so making that claim can it can be a little 214 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: uh disingenuous. I guess is that because the memory is 215 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: a faulty thing. Yeah. Yeah, and then the then what 216 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: I always think of two is that the ego might 217 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: be kind of bound up to like I'm a genius, 218 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:35,120 Speaker 1: I I've got the solution. I I dreamed like this 219 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 1: brain is pretty fabulous. I was thinking about this problem 220 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: and then I just I just went to sleep and 221 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: my brain did all the rest of the work. Like 222 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: That's how awesome this uh, this engine in my head is. 223 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: You know. So there's there's a there's a sense of 224 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: that with with the and and of course it's one 225 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:50,680 Speaker 1: of those things that can never be fully proved proven. 226 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:52,880 Speaker 1: I could I could make the claim that every podcast 227 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:56,319 Speaker 1: we've done, I've you know, has been inspired by my dreams. 228 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 1: And you know, how are you going to prove me wrong? Right? 229 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: I'm not? Yeah, so um so yeah, keep that in 230 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:04,679 Speaker 1: mind in any of these examples we're talking about. I 231 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,440 Speaker 1: think we'll get into it. There's clearly something going on 232 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: in the in the brain and a number of processes 233 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: that we can actually look at scientifically, but ultimately there's 234 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: a lot of subjective subjective area there to keep in mind. Uh. 235 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: The biggest one that comes that that generally rises to 236 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: the top is Dmitri mental Lev and Uh, he was 237 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,960 Speaker 1: working on the periodic table of elements, um, which we have. 238 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: There's I believe there's a podcast about that and also 239 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 1: an excellent how stuff works article. Um. But he allegedly 240 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: he fell asleep during an afternoon game of solitaire, as 241 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,680 Speaker 1: one as want to do, and upon waking he you know, 242 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: he knew exactly how he's going to arrange them, which 243 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: is of course he ranged the arrange them according to 244 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 1: increasing atomic masks and found that, you know, the elements 245 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: of similar properties appeared at regular intervals. But but this 246 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:57,839 Speaker 1: is that this is one again, we can't really prove 247 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: that this happened, right, Yeah, And there is actually some 248 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: information out there that calls it into question because they 249 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: say that it um that wrestling colleagues second hand account 250 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: of this, right, So maybe he told the colleague and 251 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: then that the archival material indicates that Mendelev had already 252 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: discovered the pyodic table before the alleged dream took place, 253 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 1: and that a dream quite plausibly occurred some went later 254 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:24,720 Speaker 1: than depicted in and it was an improved representation of 255 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: the periodic table. So there's I mean no doubt he 256 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: had a dream about it, but it may have not 257 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: been the the Eureka moment that was, you know, all 258 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: of a sudden, the complete version of the periodic table. 259 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: It makes me think too, like maybe he just got 260 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: sick of telling the story like everybody you know, Like 261 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: it's like he goes to a dinner party and they're like, hey, 262 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: mental leve, how did you come up with that periodic table? 263 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: And eventually you just get sick of telling the same 264 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 1: story over and over and you like, I dreamt it right? Yeah. Yeah. 265 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 1: Because he tells a real version, he's going to have 266 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:56,840 Speaker 1: the group for very long. Um. Another interesting case is 267 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: is a Frederick August von Coo Cool back in eighteen 268 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: sixty nine, and he again allegedly discovered the ring structure 269 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: of the benzene molecule UH by dreaming about a snake 270 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 1: seizing hold of its own tail, which for the conspiracy 271 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,679 Speaker 1: theorists out there, don't get too excited. I don't think 272 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: that he was a member of the Illuminati. Um. But 273 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: right that that that he took that, and he extrapolated 274 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: that to say that benzine had a ring like molecular structure, right, yeah, 275 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: which is pretty cool. I mean if if indeed that happened. Yeah, 276 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: because the ben zine is it's basically it's a ring 277 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: of six carbons and then they're like six hydrogen shooting 278 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: off from it. They'll have to say I look at it, 279 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: and I don't think, oh my goodness, it's totally a 280 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: snake um consuming its own tail. No. And I was 281 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: thinking about that too. I was like, yeah, that seems 282 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: a little far fetched, but if you are obsessed with 283 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,760 Speaker 1: the topic, you'll find patterns anywhere that you can. Right. 284 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: So maybe even if it was an accident, maybe if 285 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 1: the he truly was just dreaming about a snake consuming 286 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: its own tail. Um after his Illuminati meeting, and then 287 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: he woke up and he thought, oh, well, you know what, 288 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: there's there's actually a correlation here, like the it's you know, 289 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:13,760 Speaker 1: the brain does try to find patterns. Yeah, well, maybe 290 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: he was reading a bunch of like Norse mythology, and 291 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: he was all wound up about the organ mander and 292 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:24,479 Speaker 1: the knit guard storm, and you know who isn't about them. 293 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: Another interesting account is that of this, well there's a 294 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: First of all, there's Elias ho This is the guy who, uh, 295 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: he was working on designs for the first selling machine 296 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:38,920 Speaker 1: and he couldn't figure out how to make it hold 297 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: the needle, and then he dreamt that he was being 298 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: attacked by cannibals with spears and supposedly worked it all 299 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: out right right, and he noticed that the spear there 300 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: was a small hole at the top right, because I 301 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: think before he was playing with a needle that he 302 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: had put the hole in the middle. And so he 303 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 1: had that eureka moment when when he was about to 304 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: be cannibalized in his dream. I wonder if you like 305 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 1: woke up, like, first of all, it was like, oh 306 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,240 Speaker 1: my god, goodness, I'm about to be eaten, like just 307 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: completely freaking out, and he's like, oh, oh wait, no, 308 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: I got it. You know, it's sort of interesting too, 309 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: because you know, his adrenaline probably was pretty high, and 310 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 1: there's actually some correlation between adrenaline in long term memory. 311 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: So yeah, so it was good that he remembered it. 312 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: One of the more one of the crazy examples is 313 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: Herman v. Hill prect and this guy was actually a 314 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: German born professor of assyrian Um. And there it's worth 315 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: noting that there are also some accusations that this professor 316 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: and you know, took credit for other people's archaeological work 317 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: that he hadn't done, that he appropriated artifacts, it's, etcetera. 318 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: So there's there's some controversy about this figure um. But 319 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: but there were like two cases where he supposedly figured 320 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,960 Speaker 1: something out via his dreams. Uh. For instance, he was 321 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: trying to umu decode the name Nebuchadnezzar, the legendary Babylonian 322 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: and he claims that he had a dream um and 323 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:05,960 Speaker 1: you know, he'd been working at this problem, working at it, 324 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 1: and then he had a dream um where he's like 325 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,199 Speaker 1: saw this, uh, this dude at a table and he 326 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 1: figured out that the that it means nebu protect my boundary, 327 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 1: which that may not make a lot of sense, but 328 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: let me get unto the in the next one, which 329 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: is even more interesting. And this was one he was 330 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: this is uh and there was an expedition to the 331 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:30,920 Speaker 1: Temple of Bell at Nippur in present day Iraq, and 332 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: Uh he brought back a sketch of two fragments UH 333 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,440 Speaker 1: with the inscriptions in cuneiform, and he made a stab 334 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: at translating these to no avail and then Uh. Then 335 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:43,560 Speaker 1: he supposedly had a dream in which quote a tall, 336 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,400 Speaker 1: thin priest of the old pre Christian Nippur unquote came 337 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: to him in a dream, and it formed him that 338 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: these fragments were portions of ear rings and UH, and 339 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: that the Babylonian king had sent these had sent an 340 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:02,440 Speaker 1: inscribed voted cylinder uh to Uh to some artisans and 341 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: asked him to make ear rings and then he made 342 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: them out of the subscribed cylinder and UH. And so 343 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: he ended up going to the He thought about it 344 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,120 Speaker 1: this after the dream apparently decided that yes, the dream 345 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: was right, and then he went to the Imperial Museum 346 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 1: in Constantinople in the same year and located fragments UH 347 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,680 Speaker 1: in two widely separated cases. And when he arranged them 348 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: side by side, he found that they had in fact 349 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: once belonged to the same vote of cylinder. So this 350 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: fascinated um Uh some some people. But but when they 351 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: really started looking at it, it it was like it was 352 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: clear that this was just associated reasoning. There was like 353 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 1: nothing going on that like, these dreams were not giving 354 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: him any information that he could not have pieced together conceivably, 355 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,000 Speaker 1: and you know in his waking uh contemplations, right, it 356 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 1: just happened to occur in his dream stay and and 357 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: again there's some controversies about the guy anyway, so you know, 358 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,400 Speaker 1: keep that in mind too. But but but even if 359 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,400 Speaker 1: it was complete, really on the up and up, there 360 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: was nothing, uh you know, there's nothing supernatural going on here, right, right. 361 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: But then yeah, but there's the problem him being a 362 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,160 Speaker 1: little body, So yeah, what are you gonna do? So 363 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 1: what's going on in the mind? A lot turns out? Yeah. Um. 364 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:17,200 Speaker 1: In fact, there's a psychologists by the name of Deedre Barrett, 365 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,680 Speaker 1: and she says that creative problem solving dreams virtually always 366 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: occur only after the dreamer has done extensive work on 367 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: the issue awake. So most typically the dreamer is stuck 368 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,639 Speaker 1: at one particular step of a multiple phase process, and 369 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 1: then the dream involves that step. So then you uh 370 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: add another psychologist to the equation, and his name is 371 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 1: Robert stickled, and he has conducted all sorts of studies, 372 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,359 Speaker 1: but basically his premise is that sleep can increase your 373 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: ability to finish solving outstanding problems that you may have. 374 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,640 Speaker 1: And when you look at it our brains, the regions 375 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 1: involved in dreaming, the emotional processing quanked way up. Um, 376 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:06,560 Speaker 1: so you've got the emotional component. And what he seems 377 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: to think is that there are parts of the brain 378 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: that you can access much more directly than in your 379 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:15,880 Speaker 1: waking sleep. Um, in particular the emotional components which may 380 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: have been gathering data for you as well. Um, that 381 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: can inform the problem that you're working on. And I 382 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:24,880 Speaker 1: mean I would use the example of from earlier when 383 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 1: we were talking about solving problems in our dreams, and 384 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 1: when I've had a conflict with someone and being able 385 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,680 Speaker 1: to access that information in my mind during a dream 386 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,120 Speaker 1: and having this conversation and and perhaps having the time 387 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,200 Speaker 1: and space on a mental blackboard to figure that out, 388 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,119 Speaker 1: and those resources being more available to me. So this 389 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,680 Speaker 1: is someone who has, like I said, carried out a 390 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: lot of studies in that area. So anyway, Um, yes, 391 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: he Robert Sickle thinks that dreams are constructed within networks 392 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: of associated memories that we don't have access to normally, 393 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 1: and he sees dreams as being about what the brain 394 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: calculates as most important, same as as Barrett. Basically, the 395 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: importance of the subject, multiplied by the time spent on 396 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:09,120 Speaker 1: it determines what we dream about. But now, of course 397 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,680 Speaker 1: the problem is that we don't always remember our dreams. 398 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,119 Speaker 1: So there are two theories on why we don't remember dreams. 399 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,240 Speaker 1: One is that uh during rem we shut off our 400 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:23,399 Speaker 1: non adrenaline release, and that may shut down systems that 401 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,600 Speaker 1: normally in code memories. So when we wake up from 402 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 1: a lingering dream, and that dream is sort of in 403 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,199 Speaker 1: a short term purgatory of memory, UM, whether or not 404 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: it's sticks depends on if we can revisit the material 405 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,720 Speaker 1: while we're actively awake when the uh nora adrenaline release 406 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: turns back on, and then it commits it to memory. 407 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:47,560 Speaker 1: So that's one possibility. A second possibility of why we 408 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 1: don't necessarily remember is that we can't necessarily index them 409 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: and find them quickly. Um we need associations to trip 410 00:21:56,119 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 1: the memory. So um stick Gold uses the example of 411 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 1: seeing a cat and then all of a sudden remembering 412 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 1: a dream from the night before about a cat and 413 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: being able to take those associations and really activate the 414 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: recall part of your brain. Yeah, so that's that's always 415 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 1: something kind of mystery, like why can't I remember every 416 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:22,159 Speaker 1: single one of my dreams? Yeah, there's a on similar ground, 417 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: there's a there's a two thousand seven study from Germany 418 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: Central Institute of Mental Health and they looked at and 419 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,119 Speaker 1: they were looking into how dreams of influence creativity. And uh, 420 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: it's important that when I'm talking about creativity that we're 421 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: not just talking about Salvador Dolly painting a dream escape, 422 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: like this is the creative thinking in any thing. Yeah, 423 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: the same thing goes for you know, you're trying to 424 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: figure out how to build a sewing machine, because creativity 425 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: is essentially taking you know, different ideas and assembling them 426 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: into new and useful combinations. Yeah, you know. And so 427 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: in a sense, the whole dreams are just a screen saver, 428 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:57,439 Speaker 1: maybe in the sense that, like you said, you had 429 00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:59,360 Speaker 1: a you have one of the screensavers that draws from 430 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 1: a folder ofges, and so all these images are things 431 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,720 Speaker 1: that occupy your brain and you know, suddenly, oh, we're 432 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: getting the picture of you know, the cat barfing and oh, 433 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: here's the picture of you know, of of dirty rock 434 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: or something, you know, and so then they become because 435 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,120 Speaker 1: for you, the cat barfing is going to get flag 436 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: because it's really important because that means you're gonna have 437 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,680 Speaker 1: some big dry cleaning bills. Right. So, but I mean 438 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,200 Speaker 1: in terms of content that we flag, is this is 439 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: important to pay attention to. Yeah, or you know, it's 440 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: like one of those things where you know you'll have like, oh, 441 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,040 Speaker 1: on on one level, here's this you know, there's this 442 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,439 Speaker 1: area of like just pure emotional like say, you know, 443 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 1: fear of I don't know, you know, fear of strangers, 444 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: and then it gets tied up with some you know, 445 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,200 Speaker 1: fictional thing you've been consuming. Like I think of like 446 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 1: like zombie dreams, Like have you ever had zombie Holocaust dreams? 447 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: Zombie U part? No? I wish really I have them frequently, 448 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,239 Speaker 1: and I think my wife does too, And I've I've 449 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: spent some time like sort of analyze self analyzing those 450 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 1: and thinking about like what does that represent? Because I 451 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: think there're a number of things in the whole zombie 452 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:05,000 Speaker 1: mythos that really that that really capture a lot of 453 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,920 Speaker 1: emotions about modern life. No. No, I think that it's 454 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:10,959 Speaker 1: just that they're so slow moving that I've never been 455 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,159 Speaker 1: able to take them seriously as a threat exactly. But 456 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 1: I think that's why we end up getting attached them, 457 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: because it's a slow moving Uh. It's a slow moving 458 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,719 Speaker 1: threat that we can totally deal with if we apply ourselves. 459 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 1: And it's a blank check to use um violence to 460 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 1: solve It's basically, uh, in the zombie movies, it's like 461 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,720 Speaker 1: totally cool to use just brutal violence to solve a 462 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,479 Speaker 1: very simple problem. And so I think there's something like 463 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,399 Speaker 1: you know, primal in our you know, in our hind 464 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 1: brain that really wants to be able to solve simple 465 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: problems like that. And of course the world is there's 466 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,920 Speaker 1: no morality connected to zombies. Yeah. But but I'm I'm 467 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,479 Speaker 1: I'm getting off the point. Basically, I'm saying, I think 468 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,480 Speaker 1: there's academic paper here in the work. There is somebody 469 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: who there was a recent article about the whole like 470 00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: the problem solving aspect of that, not so much the violence. Um. 471 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: I'll have to throw it up on the blocks when 472 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:07,119 Speaker 1: I can remember it later maybe, But back to this, uh, 473 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,320 Speaker 1: this German study, Um, this two thousand seven study. They 474 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:13,480 Speaker 1: looked at individual individuals with average levels of creativity who 475 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,800 Speaker 1: had reported their dream stimulating stimulating their waking life creativity, 476 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,440 Speaker 1: and they found that there are a number of factors 477 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: uh that that were in play here. Uh. Dream and 478 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,479 Speaker 1: dream recall frequency was key. Um, your ability to recall 479 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,560 Speaker 1: the dream was a major a major influence on whether 480 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:32,679 Speaker 1: or not that was actually useful to you on a 481 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:36,640 Speaker 1: creative level. But also there were traits like attitude towards 482 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: creativity and creative activities that you undertake on a regular basis, 483 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,920 Speaker 1: your openness to new experience, and just your imagination in general. 484 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,639 Speaker 1: This presentation is brought to you by Intel sponsors of Tomorrow. 485 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: So the this was bearing out what in the study specifically, 486 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: is it sort of that the more uh it's to me, 487 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: it's like a chicken and egg proposition, like the more 488 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: artistic you are creative during the day, then it would 489 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,199 Speaker 1: feed your dreams or vice versa. Yeah. Yeah, I mean 490 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,679 Speaker 1: it's like you're you're engaging in a creative process of 491 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: some kind and then you're dreaming. It's you know, it's 492 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: on one level, it's like the creative process is the 493 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,239 Speaker 1: problem you're trying to solve your you dream about it, 494 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:27,919 Speaker 1: and then your you know, your brain isn't preparing you 495 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,639 Speaker 1: more for that for that challenge in the waking life. 496 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: But also it comes down to are you remembering your dreams? 497 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: Are you the kind of person who's going to value 498 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: the dream information at all? You know? Are you the 499 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:39,439 Speaker 1: kind of person that's gonna, you know, look at the 500 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: cat and think, oh, I had a dream last night 501 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 1: about that cat? What was that dream? What did that 502 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,240 Speaker 1: dream mean? You know, so you can't necessarily dismiss dreams 503 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 1: out of hand if you're if you're the person who 504 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: really wants to add more value to your own creativity, right, yeah, okay? 505 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,359 Speaker 1: Is it interesting? I mean this one study anyway, um 506 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,280 Speaker 1: and and there's some other interesting ones where they look 507 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,919 Speaker 1: at just how it affects um uh, you know, your 508 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,159 Speaker 1: ability to solve problems. There's a University of California, San 509 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 1: Diego experiment where uh, and this is this is one 510 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:13,320 Speaker 1: of those just brilliantly simple experiments where three words are 511 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: given to test subjects such as surprise, line, and birthday, 512 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: and then they you have to guess a fourth word. 513 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,440 Speaker 1: So what would what would be the first fourth associated 514 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: words you would pick for surprise line and birthday surprise line, 515 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: birthday zombies. Well, the word they were asked they were 516 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,919 Speaker 1: looking for it was party, you know, surprise party, party line, 517 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,400 Speaker 1: a little you know, and the birthday party. Uh. So, 518 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: but they let one third of the test subjects nap 519 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: before they picked that fourth word, and uh post u 520 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,120 Speaker 1: rim sleep and then they woke up and the people 521 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,239 Speaker 1: who had had that little map scored higher. Uh. And 522 00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 1: then the quiet rest or non rem sleep uh test 523 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 1: subjects produced no benefit whatsoever. So so this was you know, 524 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:06,440 Speaker 1: they were definitely making an argument that rooms sleep with 525 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: having a very um, you know, active role in preparing 526 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,159 Speaker 1: you for these problems. So you know, the brain is 527 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,320 Speaker 1: free associating amongst its ideas and its memories, and uh, 528 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,120 Speaker 1: you know, it's creating these loose associations that were able 529 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:19,920 Speaker 1: to you know, then we're able to put the connections 530 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 1: together and get new ideas out of it, you know, 531 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,560 Speaker 1: the creative creativity, you know, the guts of creativity and action. 532 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: Along the same lines again, Robert stick Gold had a 533 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,679 Speaker 1: study where he had some college students go through a 534 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: maze on a computer and they were asked to note 535 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: the position of a particular tree. Oh yes, I ran 536 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 1: across this as well. Yeah. And then I think, like, 537 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: I don't know how many of the subjects were asked 538 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 1: to take a nap and the other, let's say half, 539 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 1: we're asked to go do something quiet and meditative. Um. 540 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: And after the they completed their activity, whether it was 541 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: napping or playing a you know, quiet video game, I 542 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: don't know. Um, they then were retested, or rather they 543 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: were put through the maze again. And those subjects found 544 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: the tree a lot faster. But of course they had 545 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: to have had dreamed about it. And the ones who 546 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,640 Speaker 1: reported dreaming about it actually were the ones that found 547 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: the tree a lot faster. Yeah, those who those who 548 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: had dreamed of the the experimental tasks, that's like four 549 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,160 Speaker 1: four of the fifty nappers, they completed the maze just 550 00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: much faster, right. And And the reason that they know 551 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: that they dreamed about it is because from time to 552 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,640 Speaker 1: time they would wake them up and ask them what 553 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: they're dreaming about, and they you know, I think it 554 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: was right as they were going to sleep in rem 555 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: sleep and then right at the end of their sleep cycle, 556 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 1: and so the person would say, I'm dreaming about the 557 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: maze or you know, giving certain details, um. But it 558 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: was interesting that a lot of them described some of 559 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: the associations with learning, meaning that they would say, Okay, 560 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,960 Speaker 1: I'm I'm hearing the music that was played in the 561 00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:00,640 Speaker 1: lab earlier, and now I see the tree or I 562 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: see this position in the maze, which again points back 563 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 1: to the fact that you've got to have certain associations 564 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:10,080 Speaker 1: during learning. And it actually makes me think about this 565 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: study that was done with much of college kids. They 566 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:17,040 Speaker 1: were basically saying, okay, we want you to study in 567 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: three different places. Everybody you know, one group three different places, 568 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 1: one group just studying the same place that you always study. 569 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,200 Speaker 1: And the people that studied in multiple places scored higher 570 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: because they were creating those associations. They were in that 571 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: room when they were thinking about this piece of information 572 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: and the light was just so and so the cool 573 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: thing about dreams is that it's allowing you to replay 574 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:45,280 Speaker 1: all of those associations that you're having during the learning process. Interesting. 575 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: So stick Gold again, this is this is the guy 576 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: to go to with dreams and learning. He was he 577 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 1: wanted to test out dreaming and problem solving, UM, but 578 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: he wasn't quite sure how to get everybody to dream 579 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: about the same thing. So sort of his poor man's 580 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: in scept front right here. Um, he decided to have 581 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 1: a group of people play Tetris. Oh, yes, because I 582 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: think anybody who's played Tetris has had dreams about it. 583 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 1: And it's yeah, it just happens. Yeah, Yeah, there's something 584 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,200 Speaker 1: that it's like capting it for the brain that you 585 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: can't help but revisit again and again. Um. But the 586 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:23,880 Speaker 1: group included amnusiacs, which is sort of interesting. Um, and 587 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: this group dreamed about Tetris indeed, and again they did 588 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: the same process where they woke them up at intervals 589 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,040 Speaker 1: and ask them what they were dreaming about. Um. So 590 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: that findings suggests that dreams come from the parts of 591 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:39,680 Speaker 1: the brain responsible for implicit memories, such as being able 592 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: to ride a bike after years of not being on one, 593 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: and that's a memory that um, actually amnesiacs do have. 594 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 1: And the study confirmed that scientists suspicions that implicit rather 595 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 1: than declarative memories were involved, and that really cemented this 596 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:02,400 Speaker 1: idea that the brain uses dreaming to re worse learning. Interesting. Yeah, 597 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: I wonder uh, And certainly if anybody out there has 598 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,240 Speaker 1: any stories about this, we'd be happy to hear them. Um, 599 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 1: if there are cases where someone has been playing a 600 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,440 Speaker 1: video game with some form prior to going to sleep, 601 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: then go to sleep and you know dream about it, 602 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,120 Speaker 1: which occurs with games other than than Tetris, especially if 603 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: there's anybody out there like addicted to like Angry Birds 604 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: or any of that. If they've ever like hit a 605 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 1: level where they're like, oh I totally can't beat this, 606 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 1: go to sleep, and then the next day they're able 607 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: to knock it. I wonder if if that occurs. Oh yeah, 608 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 1: I think I've actually seen studies about that before. Um 609 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:34,680 Speaker 1: that this is a big thing with gamers too, so 610 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: that um, they have to use the same process and 611 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 1: saying okay, can they work out the problem and then 612 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,000 Speaker 1: master another level more efficiently than someone who's not napping 613 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: or dreaming about there, you go, don't stay up all 614 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,000 Speaker 1: night playing video games, get some sleep, and you know, 615 00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 1: wake up at a decent time and you know, work 616 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 1: on it first thing in the morning. I say to 617 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: my old roommate, and I used to get up at 618 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 1: seven o'clock to go to work, and he was still 619 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: in front of the computer. Um that being said, uh, 620 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: I mean it's it's there's no doubt here that there's 621 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 1: evidence that your your brain is working it out while 622 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:11,680 Speaker 1: you're sleeping. Um and so I guess the idea is 623 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: that if you had more access to your dream material 624 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 1: than you might be able to actively work on these things. 625 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 1: And they're also there's also some there're also studies that 626 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 1: are looking at gene expression. Um. The University of Wisconsin 627 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: study found in the rats expression levels of about a 628 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,600 Speaker 1: hundred genes increased during sleep independent of the time of day. 629 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: So um and you know, these are genes that are 630 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: involved in the release of neurotransmitter chemicals that of course, 631 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,400 Speaker 1: you know, allowing different parts of your brain to talk 632 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: to each other. Um. So. So you know, through throughout 633 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: these different experiments, you're just seeing, you know, cases where 634 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 1: sleep induce procedural learning. Is you know, is influence is 635 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: you know, there's a role with the gene expression, neurotransmitter mechanisms, 636 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:54,720 Speaker 1: the patterns of electrical activity and uh, you know a 637 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,120 Speaker 1: number of different scientists out there can just continuing to 638 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:01,480 Speaker 1: sort of map out exactly what's going on. But but 639 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: but but I think it's clear that you know that 640 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: that the brain is working on solving problems in the night, 641 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,479 Speaker 1: or at least the results prepare you to to better 642 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:13,800 Speaker 1: solve these problems in your waking life. Yeah. I actually 643 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:16,239 Speaker 1: even read this this one question that went to stick 644 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:17,840 Speaker 1: Gold in a Q and A, and it was someone 645 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:21,239 Speaker 1: asking why flying dreams are so prevalent, and he was saying, 646 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,120 Speaker 1: even then, your brain is trying to work on the 647 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:26,840 Speaker 1: data that it has present and presenting it in a dream. 648 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: So um, he was saying that that the brain is 649 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,760 Speaker 1: trying to reconcile the fact that we're under the illusion 650 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,480 Speaker 1: that we're moving, but it's getting data from the body 651 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: saying that it's immobile. So flying, we're moving, but our 652 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:44,319 Speaker 1: limbs aren't bending or moving, and so that that was 653 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,400 Speaker 1: really interesting to me to think it was. It was 654 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,760 Speaker 1: trying to serve both masters of saying, look, I'm flying, 655 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: and yet if you've ever had a flying dream, you're 656 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,520 Speaker 1: usually the accounts of them, or that you're you know, 657 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 1: pretty stiff, like you're in the Superman pose, or you're 658 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 1: just sort of sitting very stiff li and moving forward. Yeah. 659 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 1: I I unfortunately don't get them that often, but it's 660 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: generally like I like, I don't really remember any sense 661 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 1: of moving my limbs, you know, or having any kind 662 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 1: of like reef. It's just sort of like you're just 663 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,239 Speaker 1: you're you're flying, You're you're off the ground. And yeah, yeah, 664 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: I guess it. It is kind of a stiff feeling 665 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: when I think back on it. Yeah, And I think 666 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 1: that's your brain trying to say, Okay, fine, do you 667 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,239 Speaker 1: want to fly, You'll fly. But I'm telling you right 668 00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:26,440 Speaker 1: now that you know your body is immobile. You're not moving, buddy. Yeah. 669 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,239 Speaker 1: So fascinating stuff with the brain. Yeah, take that with you, 670 00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:32,920 Speaker 1: sleep on it and uh and see what kind of 671 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 1: interesting ideas come out of it. It's especially if you're 672 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 1: listening to this ride before you go to sleep. That's right, 673 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: and don't win miss if you have any nightmares. Yeah right. So, hey, 674 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,759 Speaker 1: I think we have just one little bit of listener mail. 675 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: Here is this the hair shirt email hairshirt? Yeah, you 676 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,160 Speaker 1: know you you noticed the hair shirt then I went, oh, yes, yes, 677 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: I mean it's super spiky and hairy. Yeah. Well, I 678 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 1: mean the color scheme is really cool. So I just 679 00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,759 Speaker 1: thought it was like a fashion thing going on. Oh yeah, 680 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,359 Speaker 1: which it's Italian. We have a listener by the name 681 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: of Ryan and Ryan writes in Hi, Robert and Julie. 682 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,480 Speaker 1: I love the podcast, but you made a huge mistake 683 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:10,560 Speaker 1: when you said that the universe is forty seven billion 684 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:12,920 Speaker 1: years old. It is, in fact only fourteen point seven 685 00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 1: billion years old. I don't mean to split hairs, but 686 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:17,759 Speaker 1: this is a pretty big mistake to make. In a 687 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,080 Speaker 1: happier note, thanks for finally helping me figure out a 688 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 1: mystery that has bothered me for a while now by 689 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,319 Speaker 1: explaining that M theory stands for membrane. I could never 690 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:27,800 Speaker 1: get a straight answer about what he stood for before 691 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,680 Speaker 1: your loyal listener, Ryan. Okay, Well, first of all, M 692 00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:36,680 Speaker 1: theory for anybody else who's interested in that. Um. John 693 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:38,880 Speaker 1: Horgan actually has a really interesting article. If you go 694 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:42,799 Speaker 1: onto his website, you'll see it's about Stephen Hawking and 695 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 1: he talks about M theory in more detail. But yeah, 696 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:49,640 Speaker 1: I am this is a very scratchy shirt and I'm 697 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:53,360 Speaker 1: glad that he pointed that out because speaking of dreams 698 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,240 Speaker 1: and waking life. Um, that was one of those things 699 00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:58,280 Speaker 1: that actually popped up at three o'clock in the morning 700 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:00,880 Speaker 1: a couple of days after we quote of the podcast, 701 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:03,759 Speaker 1: And oh my god, did I say that? But what 702 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,160 Speaker 1: I thought I had done is confused four point five 703 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: billion years in the solar system with forty five millions, 704 00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:13,120 Speaker 1: But apparently I've said forty seven millions. So well, it's 705 00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:15,160 Speaker 1: one of those you said. It didn't even register because 706 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,319 Speaker 1: I just kind of like heard the correct numbers in 707 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:20,480 Speaker 1: my head somehow. No, but it hurts his heart, it 708 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:25,319 Speaker 1: hurts mine, so you know, Mia Colpa. Yeah, but it's 709 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:27,600 Speaker 1: worth noting that. It's not like you're running into Julian 710 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,680 Speaker 1: the hallways and she's making a passionate argument that that 711 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:33,799 Speaker 1: the universe is forty seven billion years old it's true, yeah, 712 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,440 Speaker 1: or six thousand years. Yeah. I try not to, you know, 713 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 1: have those conversations in the hallway. Um, but by all means, 714 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,319 Speaker 1: you know, if something over here in one of our 715 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:46,560 Speaker 1: podcasts sounds a little off, you know, a lot of 716 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,400 Speaker 1: what we do in here, Um, you know, we researched 717 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: everything beforehand, but some of the actual content is sort 718 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: of come and flying off the cuff. And uh, you know, 719 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 1: every now and then we get something a little wrong, 720 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,600 Speaker 1: so we're happy to make the correction. Uh. And Robert 721 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 1: likes to to make me where I hurt, So is 722 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:05,600 Speaker 1: that his pleasure? Um? And uh, if you have any 723 00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:09,719 Speaker 1: really interesting anecdotes or even just mildly interested, We're we're 724 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:15,120 Speaker 1: pretty easily pleased, uh stories about how dreams have influenced 725 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: your creative processes, whether it be in the creation of art, 726 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:22,399 Speaker 1: you know, music. Um, yeah, I'm especially interested in music 727 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:23,800 Speaker 1: because I was looking at some stats from one of 728 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,799 Speaker 1: those studies and they found, uh, like, one of the 729 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:30,880 Speaker 1: lowest stats was musical inspiration among the people Poe. Now 730 00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:32,279 Speaker 1: you know, even though we have this, you know, this 731 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,719 Speaker 1: really cool story of of Paul McCartney, Like in this 732 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:39,240 Speaker 1: particular study, there were fewer examples of of a dream 733 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:42,440 Speaker 1: influencing somebody's music. But but really anything if you if 734 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,880 Speaker 1: you have any examples of of something in your dream, 735 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:49,400 Speaker 1: you know, solving that problem, be it scientific or artistic, 736 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,000 Speaker 1: let us know. We'd love to hear about it. Yeah, 737 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:56,120 Speaker 1: you never know, it might be Noble prize winning. And uh, 738 00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,280 Speaker 1: you know you can find us on Facebook and Twitter. 739 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:00,840 Speaker 1: On both of those we are to load the mind, 740 00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:03,279 Speaker 1: And if you want to drop us a line in 741 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:07,320 Speaker 1: the old leadite fashion, you can email us at blow 742 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:13,319 Speaker 1: the Mind at how stuff works dot com for more 743 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,840 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Visit how stuff 744 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,680 Speaker 1: works dot com. To learn more about the podcast, click 745 00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:21,040 Speaker 1: on the podcast icon in the upper right corner of 746 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,520 Speaker 1: our homepage. The how Stuff Works iPhone app has a ride. 747 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:26,560 Speaker 1: Download it today on iTunes.