[extropy-chat] An imaginary anecdote

Adrian Tymes wingcat at pacbell.net
Wed Sep 29 17:35:45 UTC 2004


--- Sean Diggins  <sean at valuationpartners.com.au>
wrote:
> My question to the list is this: Is it possible that
> conscious limitations
> to our musical abilities are bypassed when we are
> asleep? Is this a problem
> related to the fact that my physical senses were
> only functioning
> metaphorically?

As has been pointed out, all you know is that the
music (and the jokes) *seemed to you to be good*, not
that they actually were any good.  But since you were
in an altered state of consciousness (dreaming), your
judgement was just as prone to be affected as your
sensory input.

That said...music is a skill, and like most skills it
can be learned by practically any human being.  You
might be subconsciously aware of parts of it, and
those parts might have played a role in your dream,
even if you would have to consciously learn it before
using it in the waking world.  (If this is the case,
then if you studied it, you would find certain parts
of it to be familiar as if you already knew them.
Conversely, if you studied it but found yourself
struggling, and found music theory seeming alien and
complex, then you would almost certainly not already
know much if any of it subconsciously.)



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