Our psychic loves bringing us visions from the future – like dream hacking. According to our guy, technology will one day allow us to control our dreams and use them to our advantage. Here’s what he sees…
Dream Big
Ever since humans first walked the earth, we have dreamed. And ever since we first dreamed, we have tried to understand these strange sleeping visions. Some dismiss them as useless nonsense but for others, they are a window into the soul or a warning of things to come. Psychologists see them as a doorway to the subconscious. For artists, they are a path to that elusive creative spark.
Salvador Dali used to take naps while holding a heavy key over a plate so that when he dozed off the key would fall onto the plate and wake him. Before he came around fully, he would enter that half-awake, half-asleep state where he had some control over his dreams. In that state, he could imagine all sorts of things and when he woke up, he would start scribbling.
Dream Control
That was the good old days. In the future, you won’t need to break all of your plates in pursuit of REM control. You’ll just hook yourself up to a dream-making device. This device – which might be a glove you slip your hand into, or a band you put around your head – will monitor your bio signals for signs that you’ve entered the stage of sleep just before you wake up. At that point, your dream-maker will play an audio clip to trigger a specific dream.
During the stage of sleep just before you wake – when you’re half awake and half asleep – your mind is open to suggestion. And because you’re semi-conscious, you know you’re dreaming. That means you can ‘control’ what your mind produces, as it were, or at least direct it in certain ways.
That’s the holy grail of dreaming – and in the future it’s going to be big business. In ten or fifteen years, companies will be falling over each other to attract employees who are willing to sign over their dreams for research and development. Of course, you won’t have to do it, but it will help you climb the career ladder. In fact, by then it will be one of the few things humans can do that robots can’t – no matter how advanced they become, robots will never be able to produce dreams.
Dreaming on the Clock
So, why the big interest in dreams in the workplace of the future? Aren’t they too unpredictable and bizarre to be useful? Most of the time, yes. But triggering a dream during the right stage of sleep will open up a world of possibilities. The audio clip your dream-maker plays will send you down a specific path – it might be related to a problem you want to solve, or it could inspire a creative stream of thought. Whatever it is, you’ll wake up with answers you didn’t have before. The best part is you’ll be getting paid to take naps on the job. Of course, the real rewards will go to your boss in the form of a bonus for employee productivity. Some things never change!
Dreamtime-hacking won’t just be confined to the workplace; we’ll also use it to boost performance, improve memory, or learn a new skill. Everyone will avail of it – professional sportspeople competing for a title, world leaders seeking ingenious solutions to global problems, college students cramming for tests, creative types with a case of writer’s block, even people who just want to dream for its own sake. But just like social media and gene editing, dream-hacking will have its downsides. Backstreet operators will claim you can live the life of your dreams, but their recklessness will endanger lives. If you want my advice, you’ll stick to the reputable licensed firms – and make sure you’re getting paid for it!
Want to read more about dreams? Then click here.
