
A Sleep Researcher's Attempt to Build a Bank for Dreams - rshrsh
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-stanford-doctor-s-attempt-to-build-a-bank-for-dreams
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typpo
Long ago I built a simple open-source app that emails every morning asking
about your dreams[1]. Because I check email when I wake up, I always record my
dreams (there are about 100 other users who do the same).

After about a year I ran some basic text analysis on my dreams to see if I
could extract anything meaningful[2]. My conclusion was no, not really, but
it's still interesting how dreams can reflect subconscious worries and
struggles. This is especially noticeable in retrospect, but in the moment it's
often difficult or pointless to interpret dreams. The Stanford analysis looks
deeper than my very cursory text analysis, and it's not surprising that my
approach - which just took a few minutes - wasn't great. Very interesting
stuff.

[1] [http://keepdream.me/](http://keepdream.me/)

[2] [http://www.ianww.com/2013/04/14/an-analysis-of-my-dreams-
ove...](http://www.ianww.com/2013/04/14/an-analysis-of-my-dreams-over-the-
past-year/)

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option_greek
I wonder if dreams are nothing but visualization of the weights in our brains
neural networks. May be shifting around the weights while training the network
to retain long term memories.

~~~
innguest
If dreams aren't something very close to that then this would be really
spooky: [http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2015/06/inceptionism-
goin...](http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2015/06/inceptionism-going-deeper-
into-neural.html)

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DiabloD3
So what happens when you're one of these people that never remember their
dreams?

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Detrus
I rarely remembered dreams for a few years. Started taking a highly rated fish
oil and remember them frequently now.

So could be a vitamin deficiency.

~~~
jqm
DMAE (in addition to being great for focus) really makes dreams memorable. It
does occur naturally in fish and although I've never noticed dreams being more
memorable when taking fish oil (maybe because I got the cheap stuff), I can
certainly believe it after a regimen of DMAE.

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mhogomchungu
I started keeping a diary of my dreams years ago but i abandoned the effort
because of laziness.

I am one of those (lucky??)people who sometimes gain awareness of themselves
dreaming and have the ability to control the dream.

Being aware of oneself dreaming and knowing fully well that i can simply get
out of it when i choose to simply by waking myself up gives me a sense of
peace and control that i have never felt in real life.

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hliyan
I attempted something more personal (and elaborate) in the 2009 - 2011 period:
[https://oneirolog.wordpress.com/](https://oneirolog.wordpress.com/)

It was later abandoned due to lack of time. Looking at this, article, I wish I
had continued.

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jackreichert
Whenever I feel regret such, as you're expressing, I am reminded by the
proverb: "The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the second best
time is now. Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a
tree." Sometimes that helps me get back to what I had wanted to do.

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dynofuz
Cool stuff. I tweet my dreams @rickydreams I'd love to follow anyone else who
@namedreams too. Tweeting dreams is so easy if you're into tracking them. The
good thing is, you can keep it anonymous(ish) too if you want.

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0xdeadbeefbabe
Lovecraftian horror!

Edit: or in other words can this help us discover any shared dreams like in
call of the chthulu. How would you eliminate collusion?

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flp
Genuine question: since there are a few millions neurons in our stomach, why
don't we ever look there for neuronal activities?

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CatsoCatsoCatso
Is there a link to the database?

~~~
liviu-
[http://www.dreambank.net/search.html](http://www.dreambank.net/search.html)

