Dream Incubation: From Selling Dreams to Selling *in* Dreams

Dream Incubation: Influencing Our Sleep State Using AI Generated Audio— the Good, the Bad, the Ugly.

The Mystery and Mastery of Dreams

Dreams have long been a mystery to humans—our understanding is shallower than the sleep process, which itself is elusive. Yet, like clockwork, when we hit REM sleep every night, we’re pulled into a dream world, one that feels like a weird abstraction of the events of our daily lives—manifesting our stresses, fears, and passions in vivid events we can just barely recall for the moments after we awaken from our slumber. Yet while we don’t exactly know the precise purpose of dreams, scientists have established that it is extremely important to us.

Spiritual teachers and researchers alike have refined the art of “lucid dreaming”—where you progressively make yourself aware that you are in a dream state, such that you can exert control of it. Perhaps what comes to mind is the spinning totem in the blockbuster movie Inception. In many ways, it’s like the ultimate VR simulator—you’re in your dream flying around and manifesting anything you desire. You might call it an explicit form of control over the dream state.

Enter Targeting Dream Incubation

But what about a more implicit form of control over dreams? What if you could type into an AI program a dream that you want to have, and it will generate an audio file that you listen to in the transitory period of your sleep (ala, science talk for as you fall asleep) and you will be able to incubate dreams in a hyper-targeted fashion.

Why on earth would you want to do this? Great minds over centuries have remarked on the ability for dreams to resolve a problem they’re facing in their work—it’s almost like your deeper subconscious is working on the problem while you catch up on some much-needed z’s on the pillow. We were taught in the organic chemistry classes how the cyclical molecular structure of Benzene was discovered in a similar reverie by German chemist Friedrich Kekulé.

Dream incubation in simple terms is a technique designed to influence the content of our dreams by focusing on specific themes or topics before sleep. The primary goal is to cultivate certain types of dreams that aid in problem-solving, creativity, emotional processing, or other beneficial purposes, including waking up refreshed and energized.

From Selling Dreams to Selling In Dreams

This topic is currently being researched by numerous scholars, including those at MIT, and is also of interest to many students and scholars of wellness. And of course, corporations see potential in using this technique as a new tool for advertising. Perhaps you get that Amazon Alexa for free, but you find yourself waking up with an unquestionable thirst for that Diet Coke or Starbucks coffee. But before we veer off into the ethical quandaries, let’s first explore how this tech actually works.

Controlling your dreams using audio stimulus.

Latest Research Breakthroughs in TDI

Recent studies at MIT have highlighted the potential of targeted dream incubation (TDI) during the early stage of sleep, known as N1 or sleep onset. This stage has been identified as a "creative sweet spot," where the brain is particularly receptive to forming broad, creative connections. In a controlled experiment, participants prompted to dream about specific themes like "trees" exhibited significantly higher creativity in subsequent tasks—43% more creative than those who napped without any dream direction and 78% more than those who stayed awake.

a.) Limitations

While dream incubation can influence dream content and boost creativity, its effects aren't fully understood. More research is needed to determine the best timing for delivering cues, to see if results can be replicated with different themes, and to understand how long the creative benefits last.

b.) Positive Applications

Dream incubation holds promise for therapeutic uses, such as reworking nightmares or processing trauma. It could also aid problem-solving and inspire creative insights, as many artists and scientists have credited dreams for their breakthroughs. Encouraging positive dream content may help regulate mood, and studying TDI offers insights into how our minds work during sleep and dreaming.

Coors’ Strategy: Dream Advertising

In an intriguing yet controversial move, Coors conducted a marketing study aiming to influence people's dreams to feature Coors beer. This campaign, named the "Coors Big Game Dream," was executed the night before Super Bowl LV in 2021.

a.) Ethical Concerns - When AdBlock For Our Dreams?

The idea of using dream incubation for commercial purposes, like advertising, raises significant ethical concerns. Such practices could manipulate or exploit the vulnerable state of being asleep. Even voluntary participation in "dream-hacking" ads raises issues about informed consent and privacy. There is also the risk of misuse by bad actors to implant harmful content, such as prejudice or false memories. Over-reliance on "dream solutions" might discourage rational analysis, and excessive prompts could disrupt sleep, affecting memory and other sleep functions. Because again, scientists don’t fully understand the purpose of dreams. Perhaps it is not one to be messed with, much like intervening in a fragile ecological system, where the entire balance can be thrown off resulting in unintended consequences.

b.) Listening to Spiritual and Ritual Chants Before Sleep

Yet, this idea is not new. Spiritual and religious traditions for millennia have recited and then listened to spiritual and ritual chants, including Gurbani and other religious mantras, or even purely instrumental music and ragas, before sleep can have profound effects on sleep quality and dreams.

c.) Benefits and Impact

Chanting or listening to mantras before bed can promote deeper, more relaxed sleep by calming the mind and nervous system. For instance, the Shabad Kriya bedtime meditation, which involves chanting "Sat Naam, Sat Naam," is said to help regulate breath rhythm during sleep if practised regularly. Listening to Gurbani shabads or vedic mantras while drifting off to sleep allows the subconscious mind to absorb positive vibrations and messages, potentially leading to waking up with the mantra or shabad still resonating internally. Some believe that focusing on spiritual themes through Gurbani or mantras before sleep can lead not only to more uplifting dream content but get up refreshed and energised.

Summing Up and Looking Forward

We are already bombarded with advertisements in our waking lives, and now, companies are exploring ways to infiltrate our dreams. This raises an ironic and unsettling prospect: while we cannot fully decipher our subconscious mind, corporations may be able to penetrate this layer and influence our dreams, encouraging us to buy their products.

While Elon Musk's Neuralink requires an embedded chip, this "non-intrusive" method of advertising aims to control our dreams. Dream incubation research holds promise for enhancing creativity, problem-solving, and emotional processing, but ethical guidelines must be proactively developed to prevent misuse. Transparency and individual autonomy over the content of our dreams are critical as this technology advances.

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