Real-Life 'Inception'
The possibility of realizing 'shared-dreaming' and its probable impact
8 December 2021
Mazin Labib 100059486
Abstract
Word Count: 1543
The movie, ‘Inception’, illustrates the notion of shared-dreaming which, as the name suggests, allows multiple people to share one dream. It is quite appealing to contemplate whether such technology would ever be created and its potential effects on society. This research focuses on this as its subject and reaches the conclusion that, as of today, dream sharing does not seem to be something that can be accomplished in the near future. However, various scientific breakthroughs do hint at such an idea one day being fulfilled and there are many notable benefits and drawbacks that it would bring with it.
Introduction
Dreaming is an interesting phenomenon that has fascinated mankind for centuries. When we dream, everything that we observe seems to be real. We do not realize that it was a dream and that there was something unusual about the occurrences until we have woken up. This is what is defined as natural dreaming, and is what we experience every night during our sleep. There is another kind of dreaming, however, which is called ‘lucid dreaming’. This is when the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and may have control over the characters, storyline, etc. of the dream. This usually occurs for a few minutes at the stage of sleep where the dreaming process is just beginning. The concept of ‘shared-dreaming’ in ‘Inception’ seems like a mix of these two types. Multiple people share a dream through a ‘Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous (PASIV)’ device, with some experiencing something similar to natural dreaming and others being able to manipulate the narrative through lucid dreaming. It would be compelling to consider whether shared-dreaming could be possible in the future and the potential impact it can have on society, and this is the subject that this research attempts to shed light on.
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Within the film’s lore, it is suggested that shared-dreaming was developed by the U.S. military to conduct combat training without the soldiers being physically present and that at a later time, the device and procedure made it to the private market and was taken up by dream thieves such as Cobb [1]. This comes from the scene where Arthur explains to Ariadne, ‘That's why the military developed dream sharing - a training program where soldiers could strangle, stab and shoot each other, then wake up.’ This can be seen as a likely use of shared-dreaming, if it were to exist. In fact, this would be applied in a very similar manner to how virtual reality technology is currently being used by the military to prepare soldiers for hostile situations they could find themselves in on the battlefield [2]. It may also be used as a method to train surgeons.
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Another potential application would be in police investigations. The movie depicts how Eames disguises himself as Browning within the dream in an attempt to have Fischer open up to him about his relationship with his father (shown below). In a similar manner, investigators could use shared-dreaming to impersonate a close friend or family member of the suspect in order to have them reveal the truth about the case being examined. This would mean less reluctance from the suspect to do so, as they would believe they were in conversation with someone they trust, and would probably not consider lying. All this would allow for a smoother procedure when compared to traditional interrogation.
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Positive Effects
Lucid dreaming is thought to be useful as a means of entertainment, just as with virtual reality [3]. Such an implementation could also be possible with shared-dreaming. It could be viewed as being similar to playing video games, and participants would find themselves immersed in different fantastic storylines that they create themselves. Compared to video games, this would not consist of adverse effects such as repetitive strain injuries or long exposure of the eyes to a screen.
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Dream sharing can also be therapeutic, which also happens to be another use of lucid dreaming [3]. For instance, individuals with recurring nightmares can enter a dream with a therapist they confide in, who can then help them to overcome the ordeal having experienced it themselves first-hand, rather than having to rely on the patient’s recounting. Likewise, it can assist in learning to face phobias. People can have their therapist or someone else that they trust expose them to what they are afraid of within a dream environment, thus allowing to eradicate any chance of physical harm.
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In contrast, shared-dreaming could give rise to a new, alarming privacy concern: ‘dream-hackers’. A description of this would be Cobb’s profession in the movie: a thief who has mastered the art of stealthily entering his target into a dream setting and using this to gather information from the target’s subconscious without them recognizing it. While computer hackers can be halted using security measures such as firewalls or anti-viruses, dream-hackers would be scarily difficult to hinder. They would only need to find a way to conduct dream sharing on their target, and beyond that, they would be capable of retrieving private information from almost anyone in the world. This can be thought of as the most undesirable consequence of making shared-dreaming a reality.
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Another negative impact could be the risk posed by the prospective existence of a limbo state. In the movie, this is said to be a condition that a person enters when they die within a dream, where they slowly lose awareness that the world around them is not real. It is, in a way, similar to being in a coma, except there is almost no way out of limbo. It is shown in the film that Saito enters the limbo state after dying in the dream. Cobb then has to endanger his own life moving into limbo to save Saito and bring him back to the real world. If this were to be the only solution, then there would be an added risk of the rescuers being stuck in limbo along with the ones needing rescuing.
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Additionally, past traumatic experiences can interfere with the shared dream, and can cause mental health issues for one or all of the participants involved. Mal’s appearance in almost any dream that Cobb was involved in is an example of this. He had witnessed Mal plummet to her death and her depiction within his subconscious appears if something within the dream even slightly reminds him of her. Every night, he is seen using the device to enter a dream state where he could be with her. It seems to be a sort of addiction, as he is unable to move on and continues to feel guilt over how he influenced her decision to commit suicide. It is not unforeseeable that such repercussions could come to be if shared-dreaming were possible.
Negative Effects
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Cobb attempting to perform an 'extraction' on Saito. This could be how dream-hackers function.
Could 'shared-dreaming ever become reality?
A report published in February 2021 described how researchers taught volunteers how to communicate while lucid dreaming. Once they had begun lucid dreaming, the researchers tried to have them respond to straightforward yes-or-no and math problems. Although a majority of the trials concluded with no response, 39.3% of the trials obtained a response, with 21.6% being decipherable and correct responses being almost 6 times as many as incorrect ones [4]. The questions were asked using audio cues, which echoes the idea of a musical ‘kick’ in the movie, used to alert the dreamer when it is time to wake up. Being able to have a connection with the real world is an important part of shared-dreaming, so it is remarkable that this has been reproduced in real life, albeit to a minor extent.
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Another research in 2010 showed that lucid dreamers exhibited an increase in gamma brainwaves. The team conducted a second research to test whether these brainwaves caused lucid dreaming, and it concluded that participants reported an improved sense of consciousness while dreaming after having received electrical stimulation at 40 Hz [5]. This could be pictured as a part of the PASIV device which would allow some of the dreamers to know they were in a dream, although the dream sharing aspect would still need to be addressed.
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Scientists in the USA and Japan have been able to create models of what participants see while dreaming using fMRI scans of their brains. Also, a device called a brain pacemaker can be used to input very crude electrical signals into the brain [6]. If the complexity of the signals inputted could be improved, there is a possibility of using these two technologies in tandem to achieve shared-dreaming. Images of one participant’s dream from fMRI scans would be input into another’s brain using the pacemaker continuously, allowing for multiple individuals to experience the same dream.
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Furthermore, the science of quantum entanglement has been used to formulate a theoretical approach to shared-dreaming. Reddy provides an example to understand quantum entanglement: “Consider two particles with the total spin of the system as zero. If one moves in a clockwise direction, the other has to move in a counter-clockwise direction to satisfy quantum laws.” If the entire universe was entangled in such a way, there is a prospect that one person’s state of mind may be directly induced by the dreaming state of another [7]. Dream sharing could be realized by taking advantage of such laws.
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Conclusion
The idea of being able to share dreams with other people as seen in ‘Inception’ is captivating. It could potentially have significant benefits, ranging from medical to entertainment to therapy, while at the same time, it could create new issues we may not be prepared for, such as the rise of dream-hackers. At first, this concept appears to be entirely fictional and, considering currently existing technology, such a thought is not misguided. Yet, studies researching the science of dreaming, especially lucid dreaming, seem to be subtly revealing pathways that could ultimately lead to shared-dreaming becoming reality.
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