What's the bioligical advantage of dreaming?

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Is there one? Or are they like allergies.. or vestiges of once advantageous bioligical reactions that now serve no further purpose other than to annoy?

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 20:36 (twenty-three years ago)

yes it is the last remnant of our worm-being

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 20:40 (twenty-three years ago)

i think they serve a purpose even if it is simply to 'process' stuff that lingers in the mind.
besides, they can be really interesting!

― donna (donna), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 20:45 (twenty-three years ago)

According to a certain Viennese cigar-smoker, they serve a specific psychic function (and by extension then, a biological one), but perhaps your question is intentionally avoiding that discussion?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 21:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, what do you mean by "specific psychic function"?

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 21:52 (twenty-three years ago)

having sex with melvin bragg

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 21:54 (twenty-three years ago)

mark, go home and play with the dragon

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 22:02 (twenty-three years ago)

They don't have to have an evolutionary reason to exist, either current or vestigial - for instance, they are an accidental byproduct of our brains, some emergent quality, that has no effect on our survival or breeding odds. I don't say that I know that this is the case, just that they don't have to be explained in these terms.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 22:05 (twenty-three years ago)

This is a big controversy:
eg.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/21stC/issue-3.4/breecher.html

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 23:54 (twenty-three years ago)

A couple of days ago I had a dream where a turtle was attacking me and ripping the skin off my arm. I actually woke up screaming! Now they creep me out. But it's just too ridiculous, to be afraid of turtles. I think the worst they can really do is give you salmonella if you're handling them.

― Nicole (Nicole), Thursday, 26 September 2002 01:06 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought they prevented you from going mad.

― di smith (lucylurex), Thursday, 26 September 2002 01:26 (twenty-three years ago)

your dreams are generally the times when your body is going through its rapid eye movement sleep cycles. i used to work in a sleep laboratory, and can give you more info on this shit if you really want to know - i'll write more when i have the time (which will be haha never)

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 26 September 2002 01:47 (twenty-three years ago)

no Di, ironed hankerchiefs prevent madness.

― rainy, Thursday, 26 September 2002 01:50 (twenty-three years ago)

fear

http://www.angelfire.com/space/spectra/images/fear.jpg

― felicity (felicity), Thursday, 26 September 2002 01:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Argh! Angelfire!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 26 September 2002 02:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Almost as fearful as the broken image link.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 September 2002 03:43 (twenty-three years ago)

hey it worked on mine. it was haloist's blobby hanky. sorry you seem to have lost your cookies

― felicity (felicity), Thursday, 26 September 2002 04:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I've read some speculation and hearsay that dreaming is the brain doing a system's check, running electricity through various neural pathways, and we project an interpretative scenario on this systems check.

That said, I've had at least two clairvoyant episodes vis-a-vis dreams. First, on 9-11-01, I woke up crying, I'm guessing a few hours before it happened. I *think* my brother was in it, in the dark trying to get me to go to him. Second instance involved a series of buildings of being blown up by a laser from outerspace, myself inhabiting the fifth building blown up. Then I wake up and read that Israeli troops were destroying Arafat's compound.

― Leee (Leee), Friday, 27 September 2002 05:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've also had pre-cognitive dreams (although not for years)
The most striking of which I dreamt I wanted to call a friend from a public phone, but it was wired up to an electricity pylon and a mad scientist was laughing saying "haha you can't use the phone or I'll eletrocute you".
I told my mum about the dream before I left the house to go and catch a bus to meet a friend.
I missed the bus and wanted to call my friend (who lived further down the bus route) to tell him to get the next one.
When I got to the payphone it had been vandalised, how odd, I thought - just like my dream.
I then realised that although the phone had been smashed, the earpice was still connected and I could hear the dial tone so I scooped up the bits, put it to my ear and Zap! a tiny electric shock.

I'm usually quite sceptical about things like this - I've had other seemingly pre-cog dreams but there's always been a chance I could have subconciously known about the events before dreaming them.
I've long since learnt not to relate my regular dreams to others as they generally think I'm either deeply disturbed or just deeply boring.

To answer the question :), I believe dreams are where we make sense of the previous days events and solidify learned motor reactions into more instinctual behaviour. EG - When I was learning to ski, I would dream I was skiing all night and be better the next day for all the additional practice I'd gained in the night. I'm sure I saw research along the same lines recently.
I would like to hear more from Geeta.

― Simeon (Simeon), Friday, 27 September 2002 10:34 (twenty-three years ago)

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