# Lucid Dreaming > General Lucid Discussion >  >  why dont light switches work in dreams?

## hbash089

i always wondered why they dont work in dreams.

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## Typhuse

I don't have an exact answer (or the right answer) on this question, but I believe it is that certain areas of our brain shut off and don't provide us with proper logical thinking in our dreams. This is a fact; the next few sentences are my hypothesis. This is an example of how 1 + 2 = 5 in your dream. You can't do math, read, or other kinds of high-level information processing. I have been able to retain info I read from a book in my dream, and it was a clear read too. I must say that you would maybe have to know how a light switch works in order for your brain to properly construct a model in your dream, anyway. But you could make up some bizarre way; like the toaster must be toasting while the water is running so that the light switch works. This may be different when lucid since your brain wakes up some parts that involve consciousness.

Just a few thought.
~Typhuse

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## FreeOne

personally i think it is just placebo effect.  If you really want it to turn on, it would probably turn on.  I never mess with light switches though. i prefer much cooler ways for light.  like pulling the sun around the world  ::D:

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## SEBSTER

u know, i think that since lights and electronics are so taken for granted during Waking Life then maybe thats why they dont work the same in a dream. See in my dreams lights and electronics work perfecly but have some differences.......
i think that the whole light thing depends on the person.

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## fonti

this is not entirely true. there have been times when light switches have worked for me in dreams, as has reading. not all the time though.

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## KuRoSaKi

^ Yup electronics work for me, but they have some differences for instance sometimes if I flip a light switch the light wont turn on but the room will be brighter other times the light does turn on etc. It's person specific or possibly hit and miss as sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

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## BohmaN

Some people belive that the part of the brain dealing with light in your dreams is usually pretty dormant.

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## Vall3y

hmm what about clocks then?
why do they show a different hour every time you look at them?

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## BohmaN

> hmm what about clocks then?
> why do they show a different hour every time you look at them?



Simply because dreams are unreliable, since dreams are created with your inner senses such as imagination, believes and expectations, things that are known to be quite irregular... In real life we perceive with our external senses thus irregularities such as a malfunctioning watch are very uncommon.

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## flight

Thought can be very abstract without some form of concentration, focus. So I would say, your just expecting it to work like bits of machinery/technology do in RL, but as you know the dream world is different and sometimes you haven't put any focused effort on it to really do what you want it to do. 
If you are putting focused effort into it switching on and it doesn't, you probably don't think it's going to turn on anyway. Or it's simply your mind screwing with you because it knows you have been waiting to see how it responds. But I would try not to make it into a big mind game because it's really your light and it's a working light because you say it is.

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## viking-45

> hmm what about clocks then?
> why do they show a different hour every time you look at them?



because you mind just makes up an image of the clock to make you feel like in reality

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## Bonsay

Maybe it's because switching lights on and off doesn't require much thinking, maybe it's an unconscious action. I know I usually don't think about if the light will work or not, I just switch it.
Although I can read in my dreams. I also don't remember anything not working in my dreams.

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## Mocari

In waking life our senses are unreliable too. 
The only thing different between the dream and the waking life situation, is that we more or less know it is a dream or not whenever we check the clock for regularity.

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## delta-9-thc

what i think iz dat maybe the dreamworld ur in has no source 4 electricity so u gotta use ur mindpowerz 2 create a powerplant of some sort and then maybe the switch will work  ::D:

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## Sivason

Next time open the fridge, and see if its light comes on, then test if it is keeping the food cold. It not try shouting "Tech Support" :smiley:

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## Dallian

Because it's a dream.

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## Torcher

They don't work because somebody forgot to pay the damn bill again :Mad:

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## Deegan

sometimes they work in mine, and sometimes they do something completely random, like change the color of the sky.

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## Vortex

I believe it is because the brain has difficulty producing sudden bright light in our dreams. When I have had light switches work in dreams the light is either dim, or comes on and slowly gets brighter.

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## Goldney

Or it could be because one person had trouble with lights, he told his friends who now believe that lights won't work in their dreams. They have a dream the light switches don't work because they remember their friend telling them that light switches don't work in dreams. They experience it and they tell their friends, who tell their friends etc. You see it could just be snowballing of a commonly known lie that is affecting people's dreams.

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## Vortex

Well said Goldney. You may well be right, infact I think that is probably the correct answer to at least half of all the questions ever asked on this forum.
Apart from our bodies physical limitation's in what  dream sights, sounds and feelings it can produce the rest of the experience is subjective expectation.

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## Thatperson

i cant remember trying lights but my comp always crashes, BSOD or jsut 60+ popups when i turn on, usually i have to use it to save the world and i panic and just run away.

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## Kjaka

Electronics doesn't seem to work but lights do change in my dreams, so I suppose you shouldn't rely on that to make a check.

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## QuackinUp

This has probably been said before. Im just new and browsing around. Waking Life was indeed a great movie, but scientifically it wasnt the most accurate. But we know that the left/right brain idea isnt as cut and dry as we used to believe. still, it inspired many to learn about dreams and the science behind them. To me, the best left/right brain story was A Scanner Darkly, also scientifically innacurate, but much like Waking Life, raised some great philosophical thoughts.

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## spellbee2

This thread is over 8 years old, and most of the original posters are no longer part of the forum. Please don't resurrect old threads - this is called necroposting and is against forum rules. If you want to discuss this topic, please start a new thread.

 :lock:

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