You, the Dream Character

[littlezoe]

Did anyone ever wonder about this? I just had this sudden thought yesterday while watching a movie... that basically your brain stores lots of random people's faces that you see during the day, even if you don't directly look at them or don't even notice them consciously. Think about it this way... you walk in the city or just basically anywhere in public, lots of people pass by you and they all see you, even if unintentionally in their peripheral vision or by directly looking at you. Now think about that in those people's dreams, a Dream Character might just use your look as their own... therefore you become a DC in someone else's dream. Maybe someone is having recurring dreams and a DC who looks like you is an important character of those dreams... I'm not sure how much sense this makes, but i found this to be an interesting thought ^^ Opinions?

[WDr]

Ooo! That would be so cool, thousands of DCs looking like me, running around in peoples mind! Anyways, erhm... I'm sure some of you have heard that all the faces you see in dreams are taken out of the real world. I've hear this saying sometimes... Don't know of it's true though. But if it is, it would support the chance of a DC with your look living in a stranger persons mind

[littlezoe]

Anyways, erhm... I'm sure some of you have heard that all the faces you see in dreams are taken out of the real world. I've hear this saying sometimes... Don't know of it's true though. But if it is, it would support the chance of a DC with your look living in a stranger persons mind It is true, that's not the question ^^ I was just interested about how you would feel to know that you might be appearing in other people's dreams as a DC watch the episode of "The Twilight Zone" called "Shadowplay"! It's about this guy who has a recurring nightmare and all the dream characters are people he's seen throughout the years... It's kinda frustrating to a lucid dreamer, though... you'll see why Never heard of that before, but i'll check it out, thanks

[SnowyCat]

watch the episode of "The Twilight Zone" called "Shadowplay"! It's about this guy who has a recurring nightmare and all the dream characters are people he's seen throughout the years... It's kinda frustrating to a lucid dreamer, though... you'll see why

[Mzzkc]

It's not true. Yes, the human brain is exceptional at recognizing and processing facial features, but it's even more adept at filling in details. I'm not going to go too in-depth, or spend 20 minutes pulling together research no one will read, but the faces of DCs are amalgamations of facial features you've previously seen and remembered. As such, it's more accurate to say there might be DCs running around with your nose, your ears, or even your hair. But a full reconstruction of a specific person you've barely glanced at is highly unlikely, since that sort of information typically never makes it to working memory, let alone long term memory.

[TheForgotten]

It's not true. Yes, the human brain is exceptional at recognizing and processing facial features, but it's even more adept at filling in details. I'm not going to go too in-depth, or spend 20 minutes pulling together research no one will read, but the faces of DCs are amalgamations of facial features you've previously seen and remembered. As such, it's more accurate to say there might be DCs running around with your nose, your ears, or even your hair. But a full reconstruction of a specific person you've barely glanced at is highly unlikely, since that sort of information typically never makes it to working memory, let alone long term memory. ~~~ Think about it this way... you walk in the city or just basically anywhere in public, lots of people pass by you and they all see you, even if unintentionally in their peripheral vision or by directly looking at you. Well, guess she did mention peripherals.... so that's more difficult. However depending on awareness levels of an individual.. and whether or not photographic or near photographic memory is involved... it's possible to reconstruct someone with a higher level of accuracy than the average person might. On the other hand, the more normal the individual appears, the less likely they are to notice them... although if you create a unique context in which the person is viewed, it increases the probability of the person being stored in a more long term area of the brain. It just depends. Although, that would take a lot of effort to do that with everyone we pass.... sooooooo guess that's outside the norm xD

[Mzzkc]

~~~ Well, guess she did mention peripherals.... so that's more difficult. However depending on awareness levels of an individual.. and whether or not photographic or near photographic memory is involved... it's possible to reconstruct someone with a higher level of accuracy than the average person might. On the other hand, the more normal the individual appears, the less likely they are to notice them... although if you create a unique context in which the person is viewed, it increases the probability of the person being stored in a more long term area of the brain. It just depends. Although, that would take a lot of effort to do that with everyone we pass.... sooooooo guess that's outside the norm xD Come now; you know there's no evidence for photographic memory. Eidetic memory, sure, but that's still not going to guarantee long term recall of passing faces. And yeah, unique context or prolonged exposure would help. @fhgshfdg: Very cool. Thanks for sharing that.

[fhgshfdg]

Reminds of the this video I happened upon a month or two ago: RESEARCH | MATTHEW B. THOMPSON Very interesting and definitely relevant.

[Ilumirath]

Reminds of the this video I happened upon a month or two ago: RESEARCH | MATTHEW B. THOMPSON Very interesting and definitely relevant. Thanks for the trippy nightmare I'mma have next time I'm sleeping :O

[TheForgotten]

Maybe someone is having recurring dreams and a DC who looks like you is an important character of those dreams... Doesn't sound unreasonable. I've had others play reoccurring roles in my dreams.. some on purpose and some accidental. Fun part is when you can create nightmares in someones dreams.... and come to think of it, building on highly popular archetypes of what constitutes a typical nightmare is not that difficult. In fact, it's much easier than one might imagine. Add a few sprinkles of darkness, a few layers of chase, a decently empty building and voila... only thing left is to add the halfway crazed pursuer and it's a done deal.

[TheForgotten]

Case by case trials don't qualify? :*(

[SnowyCat]

Case by case trials don't qualify? :*( of course not! what, do you think we're being SCIENTIFIC?

[TheForgotten]

Ooooh alright. You got me. I guess we can make it a logical discussion.

[SnowyCat]

ahahah

[Sageous]

Okay, now back to the thread: I think what LittleZoe was talking about here (correct me if I'm wrong, LittleZoe) is more a philosophic look at self-awareness and ego than it is a scientific study of dream residue and memory. In other words, the real thing to think about, when considering that dreams are constructed with the images -- even incomplete ones -- is that your image, or some portion of it, is present in someone else's dreamscape, just because you happened to walk by that someone else once during waking life. And by extension, if you live and move in a crowded environment like a city, traces of your image might be turning up in the dreams of thousands of other people, every night. Squint hard enough, and this idea almost casts a tiny shimmer of immortality! Pretty cool!

[littlezoe]

As such, it's more accurate to say there might be DCs running around with your nose, your ears, or even your hair. But a full reconstruction of a specific person you've barely glanced at is highly unlikely, since that sort of information typically never makes it to working memory, let alone long term memory. Just as there can be DCs running around with some parts of your face, they could be running around with your full face as well. I don't see the difference. Just because you can't remember a face fully, that doesn't mean that it's not stored in your brain, your subconscious can work with it. Photographic memory allows your conscious self to reconstruct the images perfectly, but you don't have to have photographic memory to make your subconscious able to work with these images. Okay, now back to the thread: I think what LittleZoe was talking about here (correct me if I'm wrong, LittleZoe) is more a philosophic look at self-awareness and ego than it is a scientific study of dream residue and memory. In other words, the real thing to think about, when considering that dreams are constructed with the images -- even incomplete ones -- is that your image, or some portion of it, is present in someone else's dreamscape, just because you happened to walk by that someone else once during waking life. And by extension, if you live and move in a crowded environment like a city, traces of your image might be turning up in the dreams of thousands of other people, every night. Squint hard enough, and this idea almost casts a tiny shimmer of immortality! Pretty cool! At least someone understood it ^^ I'm not sure what was so hard about this for the others... Maybe i just explained badly. Doesn't sound unreasonable. I've had others play reoccurring roles in my dreams.. some on purpose and some accidental. Fun part is when you can create nightmares in someones dreams.... and come to think of it, building on highly popular archetypes of what constitutes a typical nightmare is not that difficult. In fact, it's much easier than one might imagine. Add a few sprinkles of darkness, a few layers of chase, a decently empty building and voila... only thing left is to add the halfway crazed pursuer and it's a done deal. Well... i was talking about DCs using your look as their own, not exactly YOU entering someone else's dream... That's part of another discussion

[Mzzkc]

Just as there can be DCs running around with some parts of your face, they could be running around with your full face as well. I don't see the difference. Just because you can't remember a face fully, that doesn't mean that it's not stored in your brain, your subconscious can work with it. Photographic memory allows your conscious self to reconstruct the images perfectly, but you don't have to have photographic memory to make your subconscious able to work with these images. I already provided you with my reasons, but it seems you ignored them, as expected. What's more, the fact that you continue to use the term subconscious tells me you don't really know what you're talking about. Which is fine, you're entitled to your ignorance, but please don't say things are "true" when you can provide no evidence to support your claim. You should know better than that, given how often you dismiss the ideas of people who discuss or believe in BD topics. If this were simply a thread where you were musing about an idea, I wouldn't have bothered to comment. However, in your second post, you assert this idea as fact, when anyone who knows even a little bit about how memory works could tell you it isn't, except in extraordinary cases.

[littlezoe]

I already provided you with my reasons, but it seems you ignored them, as expected. What's more, the fact that you continue to use the term subconscious tells me you don't really know what you're talking about. Which is fine, you're entitled to your ignorance, but please don't say things are "true" when you can provide no evidence to support your claim. You should know better than that, given how often you dismiss the ideas of people who discuss or believe in BD topics. If this were simply a thread where you were musing about an idea, I wouldn't have bothered to comment. However, in your second post, you assert this idea as fact, when anyone who knows even a little bit about how memory works could tell you it isn't, except in extraordinary cases. I know that you are mad at me ever since we first argued on here, but i don't post in your threads just for the sake of arguing, it would be nice if you would keep youself to that too. Where did you prove any evidence of YOUR claims? I didn't see them anywhere. Tell me, why would it be so hard to imagine that your subconscious would use a whole face that you've seen during the day? You bring up the photographic memory, but that's not even the point here. But yeah, if you just want to troll my threads, then i advise to stop, little guy Littlezoe makes claims that her way is often the 'right' way or 'only' way to complete or experience a task. This is often unhelpful for people who know little about lucid dreaming and then they begin practicing what she preaches, as fact, and then get confused when they deviate from how the expected path was laid out. That's what you think wrong I don't claim that my ways are the only way. I see that you like to keep the back of this Mskcsks guy in every single thread where he attacks me, but this is getting boring. I made this thread to start a friendly conversation about this whole "DCs using your look" thing and not to start arguing over stupid things.

[TheForgotten]

I have no idea what's that supposed to mean... Sorry, that was meant to be humorous. You know, when english isn't your first language, it takes more effort to form your sentences, especially if you are writing a long reply to someone. If you would know another language then you would understand True, it can take more effort to express yourself in a secondary language. I speak three other languages, French, Hawaiian, and American Sign Language all equally bad. One of the neat things I've learned is to observe each culture before trying to impart any knowledge into them... sorta neat like that. As for your last sentence... that shows exactly the opposite of what you said about not trying to make others seem less worthy than you. But then again, i might've just misunderstood it... It could be seen that way. Or it could be seen as an attempt to communicate with you.

[TheForgotten]

Oh. I tend to misread ideas. Oh well. Back to photographic memory... carry on then

[Carrot]

I don't even want to think what they are doing with "me".

[TwoCrystalCups]

Hell i can make me look better in dreams myself, "transform" basically no one can take my "looks"

[littlezoe]

Hell i can make me look better in dreams myself, "transform" basically no one can take my "looks" You don't understand the point of the thread... which doesn't surprise me... It's about your real look, not your dream look. You can't decide how you'll look in someone else's dream, when that's just a DC using your look.

[Carrot]

Other than keeping my looks in the memory data of their brain and using it to form a DC, I wouldn't be surprised if someone decides to change how I look or dress if I am a DC in their dream.

[moSh]

I love the idea of being in strangers' dreams! It makes you realise how much impact you have on so many people without really doing anything at all. Sometimes we forget that by simply walking past someone in the street has an affect on their life, albeit in the smallest way. I particularly enjoy when people tell me about their dreams I've featured in, especially if I don't know them all that well. Gives me a taste of how they really see me (even if they don't realise themselves) by interpreting their dream myself.