Inception Forum

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Scientists did a study to prove that the act of Inception can happen. Is this really what scientists should spend their time studying?

@TepidShark said:

" Scientists did a study to prove that the act of Inception can happen. Is this really what scientists should spend their time studying? "

Yes, yes they should. You act like they only did it because of Inception, rather than decades of research into the falsification of memories and brainwashing in relation to sexual abuse cases, cults, and repressed memories.
 
But hey, since you're so obviously knowledgeable about what scientists should or should not spend time and money studying, why don't you go tell them? They're dying to hear your opinion.

Well, this isn't exactly new research. Memories are a hard thing to pin down, that's why eye witness testimonies are treated with such caution. I read an article that said the actual events of the film Inception - entering someone's dreams to plant an idea - would be impossible as you cannot separate out what is being drawn in from the real world and what is fantasy.

@Godot: I never realized it could be related cases like that. Just watching the movie, inception seemed like it wouldn't be that useful but I guess it could have practical applications.

uhhh...i remember watching in the movie 'waking life' that during REM sleep Numbers, and Letters are Indicypherable ... so wouldn't that whole timing / layer-kicking plan be obsolete?

@TepidShark said:

" Scientists did a study to prove that the act of Inception can happen. Is this really what scientists should spend their time studying? "

I am a "Scientist" - I have researched much more abortive ideas than this. I'm actually jealous.

Inception of idea can in fact be done, but i'd say only properly on a young child in the development stage. If you constantly tell the kid that he is lets say useless or dumb then he will start to believe it as fact, it wouldn't work on an adult as most lack the naivety of children. Sooner or later the kid will grow out of the idea, but it can be tough. In the sense that Inception the movie does it no, its just science fiction baby.

Hypnosis duder. It can be done, at least temporarily, and I don't doubt that it has be done before. Look at the time those U.S soldiers were brainwashed by those Korean dudes a while back.

@dannoob:
From my own recollection of lucid dreams, I could read letters and numbers in the dream, but I sure as hell could not remember them when I woke up. 
For instance my reality check as a dreamer is to check the time a few times. If the time shifts dramatically within a moment or two, then it's obvious I'm in a dream. I need to be able to see the numbers on my digital watch to be able to determine whether or not I'm dreaming and if I can't read the numbers on the watch, then my reality check fails.

@TepidShark:
By the way, there is absolutely nothing new in this article. This is the sort of thing that I learnt about in Psychology class years ago. Rather than reiterating an already clearly defined point, these scientists should either be working on something else or looking furthur into the concept.

@Bo17:
Are you implying that you have checked your watch in reality to determine if you are in a dream or not? I rarely dream and the few times I have I have caught the fact (Usually when things start to not add up).

@Feser: 
Swear to god, I do it all the time. When you practise Lucid Dreaming you become accustomed to false awakenings which is exactly what it sounds like. You think you're awake, you go about your day and then twenty minutes later you actually wake up properly. It's bizarre as hell, but whenever I get really super tired or something truly weird happens, you'll usually find me staring at the nearest watch/clock/timetelling object for a good 10 minutes or so...
 
EDIT: Also, technically, you always dream when you sleep but most people have difficulty remembering their dreams clearly, if at all, until they start teaching themselves to remember them.

@Bo17:  
I'm fascinated by that. 

I'm aware that I'm always dreaming but I almost never remember them. I wonder if that if has to do with the fact that I sleep exceptionally well, but on the other hand I'm also a very light sleeper that awakes at the slightest noise. Is it possible that I do not go into deep sleep often enough? Anyhow, I have had one rememberable dream this year.

I never used to remember my dreams.
Literally, all I have to do to go lucid is tell myself that I'm falling asleep as I fall asleep and when I eventually wake up, I remember my dreams relatively clearly.
It depresses me that they all seem to focused around work though...

For years, my friend told his cousin that they saw Donald Duck walking down the street when she was really young. She basically grew up with this idea being pushed into her head. Now, in her early twenties, she swears that she remembers seeing Donald Duck walking down the street. She knows it didn't happen because he's told her the truth since then, but she remembers it as perfectly as something that actually took place.
 
So yeah, I do think you can "contaminate" people's memory in certain cases and in certain ways. The idea of inception -- as it's done in the film Inception -- seems kind of ridiculous to me, though. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I don't dream in the manner in which it is represented by in the movie. My dreams are far more abstract.

@JazzyJeff: The only criticism i could bring myself to level against Inception is that for all of its realism, the dream sequences are very much too 'real world'.
Dreams are abstract by their very nature. Technically, a dream is the function of the mind processing information that it has built up whilst you were conscious and organising it to make it most accessible, so the dreams are often metaphorical representations of what you're experiencing and feeling at any point in time so that your mind has a strong point of reference in the future.
But, as a methodical film-maker, for Nolan to introduce dreams like this would be crazy, even Lynchian, something that simply wouldn't mesh well with his style of film-making.