
Ask HN: When I put my computer to sleep, does it dream like I do? - 64bitbrain
Hello HN,<p>(Backstory)
Yesterday I was asked to inspire a group of elementary students about Computer Science&#x2F;Physics&#x2F;Space&#x2F;Galaxies&#x2F; and all the exciting stuff. It was nice to interact with these kids and inspire them.<p>As I started talking about, AI and what companies like SpaceX and Magic Leap are trying to achieve. One of the students asked me. &quot;When I put my computer to sleep, does it dream like I do?&quot; Now, I didnt wanted to get dive in technical details and spoil the fun. I told her yes, it does dream. That was well aligned with my AI discussion. But, now I can&#x27;t stop thinking about the technical challenges and complex AI network that could make this happen.<p>But, If I want to give explain it again, what would be a good way of doing it.<p>Edit: Explain like in both technical and non-tehnical terms.<p>Thanks,
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gus_massa
I think that the correct answer is no. Current computers don't dream, they are
like in cryogenic suspension, totally frozen. There is no activity. (Actually
there is a difference between "sleep" and "hibernation" mode, but neither are
dreaming states.)

Nobody know why we sleep. There are a lot of theories that go from unsupported
to bushtit.

Anyway, my favorite theory is from Crick and Mitchison. It's probably wrong,
but it's so nice that it deserve to be true at lest in an alien specie or
something. It would be a sad universe if this theory were totally false. But,
being nice is not enough to make it correct :(.

Someone made a special kind of neural network where this kind of "dreams" are
useful for learning, but this networks are totally different from the networks
in the brain.

More details:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_learning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_learning)

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cjbprime
I don't think I understand the (technical) question. When your computer goes
to sleep, it uses a tiny amount of current to keep the RAM in "self-refresh
mode", to stop the RAM decaying, and then turns off the CPU.

Given that the CPU has no power, there is no meaningful analogy to dreaming in
any sense.

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64bitbrain
Agreed. However, if we consider a computer with complex AI capability(Jarvis),
can it dream. Dream is kind of a state for us humans, similarly, If Jarvis
goes to sleep what we can except, does it projects random thoughts and ideas.
Can it dream about all those crazy ideas like humans do. It does kind of open
up the possibilities of making a machine think more than he can achieve.

