
The function of dream sleep (1983) [pdf] - montalbano
https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/scbcdk.pdf
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chubot
FWIW, the book "Why We Sleep" mentions this paper by Francis Crick et. al. and
talks about the history of sleep research.

I'm in the middle of it because of a Hacker News recommendation, and let me
pass on the recommendation. It's great so far :)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17381235](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17381235)

For example, I think most of us now know that napping isn't for the "lazy" but
it's nice to see the scientific reasoning for it. The author Walker is a great
sleep advocate.

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montalbano
Graeme, a distant relative of J.B.S. Haldane, was a fantastic scientist who
contributed to a wide range of fields. Sadly, he passed away in April this
year. Here's a brief but interesting overview of his life for anyone
interested:

[https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/graeme-
mitchison-1944-2018-2/](https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/graeme-
mitchison-1944-2018-2/)

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vekker
Good read, but the conclusions made in this 35-year old paper are a bit
outdated. This reverse-learning idea has long been supplanted by the threat-
simulation theory: [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-
brain...](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-
sciences/article/reinterpretation-of-dreams-an-evolutionary-hypothesis-of-the-
function-of-dreaming/EE0E7DB39E361540D2DDA79C262EDA7E)

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drakenot
I'm genuinely curious how they test their conclusions with something like
this.

The 35 year old theory seems equally as likely as the threat-simulation
theory. What has made threat-simulation supplant other theories on this topic?

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gcbw2
Well, the comment you are replying to may have jumped the gun, both are still
hypothesis.

