Evolutionary Purpose of Dreams

>>8903596
"Training", so you think about different scenarios that might happen but are improbable. This way you have at least some slight idea of what you might want to do in that circumstance.

My theory is its your consciousness trying to communicate with you. You are actually two beings.

>>8903601
A lot of times, dreams can be very nonsensical and certainly will never happen. How is it "training" then?

When you sleep, your brain literally is detoxing itself. Dreams are basically a test boot to make sure everything is working before you wake up; parts of your brain being started up like engines in a rocketship being flipped on. That's as simple as I can put it.

Let's try and do it by analogy. If you created an AI why would you give it dreams/nightmares?

Such that the computer, while on sleep mode, was still operating, but the operations weren't real. Some were easy (dreams) some difficult (nightmares) that required more resources to solve.

Why give an AI an unreal program to run? What's a real program? I suppose a real program is one that you don't want the AI to fuck up and corrupt somehow, you want it to follow the standard procedures.

The fake programs are worthless data that allows the computer to attempt new ways of problem solving. Perhaps the new ways of problem solving reduce its energy output back in the real world.

Could dreams then be a method of our brain trying to minimize energy output? Trying to think of novel solutions to real world scenarios without any real world consequences.

The humans/animals that evolved dreams were able to come up with ideas that made them more successful than the ones who didn't. The ones who didn't didn't get that extra time to automatically search for solutions to problems while they rested their body. They were disadvantaged against the superior dreamers who put into action efficient systems to make them prosper.

>>8903639

This just begs the question "why do we sleep"?

>>8903652
Why sleep your computer? Lets it cool down, gives all the mechanics (muscles/joints/ligaments/mind) a rest. Requires less energy. Energy conservation. Energy renewal.

>>8903596
We still don't completely understand the purpose of sleep as a whole but they may be linked to memory processing from short to intermediate or intermediate to long term.

>>8903596
What is the point of your imagination?

>>8903604
There is a theory that the subconscious communicates with the conscious through dreams to help you solve your everyday problems. And there is also a theory that suggests that your fate is controlled by your subconscious which is shaped around your environment up until the age of 6. Though it is still possible to control the subconscious even if this is the case.

>>8903615
Because life is full of unexpected situations and being able to see something strange and have some quick ideas about it is probably an advantage.

>>8905320
No, it's not a theory and research has indicated it to be a false premise. It comes from Sigmund Freud, so it's literally just made up shit that sounds initially plausible.

It's probably just emergent behavior that occurs for no reason, the "explanations" ITT (and this one included) are completely unfalsifiable

>>8903596
Here are some theories:

>Activation-Synthesis
Essentially parts of your brain (especially the limbic system - which is what your emotions, reactions and desires come from, it's the survival component to your brain). Are activated in a latent fashion during REM sleep, which the rest of the brain then attempts to interpret in some way. Likely pulling from recent memory and thoughts to construct something tangible. So basically it's just random activation combined with recent occurrences that your brain conjures interpretations up for, not magically or anything, that's what the brain does when you're awake so it's just doing what it usually does.

>Information-Processing
There are various common theories, basically your brain processes and reasons all the information and thoughts you've gathered in a given day. So the 3-7 dreams you have a night are the vehicles or bi-products of the processing.

>Psychotherapy
Dreams are a safe environment to sort out your feelings and make connections between different thoughts and emotions, similar to Information-Processing.


Most likely the real function or lack thereof, of dreams is a combination of all of these and more. Sleeping is largely an energy conservation and rejuvenation process, dreams are likely a part of that.

>Refresh
Dreams are part of some 'refreshing' process, to clear of latent thoughts, feelings and memories that are not relevant/impeding to coming day.

>Interpreting stimulus while in an inebriated state
While sleeping your body is slowed down and shut down in a lot of ways. Dreams might just be the brain continuing - partially so, to interpret the world. This is similar to Activation-Synthesis except things don't derive mainly from chaotic or sequential activation but dreams derive purely from the brain interpreting recent memories/feelings/thoguhts combined with external stimuli like sounds, light, sleeping position, etc. Again, it's just the brain trying to function as it consistently does.

File: 1451521464721.jpg (13KB, 300x300px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 300x300px

>>8903596

Removes toxins from the body generated while awake, solidifies information gathered in memory and provides a simulator where creativity is enhanced tremendously, so it can be helpful for preparing for strange or unlikely scenarios and coming up with very abstract solution.


The issue is that our society doesn't pay much attention to dreams at all, We should all be given training to master our dreams from an early age, it's literally the best tool you have for creative problem solving and almost no one thinks about it.