[ExI] Dreams...

[Giovanni Santostasi]

Hi John,
I have a physics background but I have spent the last 2 years working in
data analysis of sleep in 2 world famous laboratories in the field. I'm not
working on dreams so I cannot give much of scholarly input. Instead I study
the sleepless part of sleep called slow wave sleep. During this phase of
sleep the EEG shows large amplitude, slower waves (0.5 -5 Hz), in
comparison with waking waves (in the beta range above 15 Hz to 40 Hz).
These waves are associated with the most restorative part of sleep and
memory consolidation. Right now I'm working on a somehow transhumanist
project that is to develop an automatic system that can recognize the sleep
phases and follow the EEG and then tries to enhance the slow wave sleep by
stimulating the brain with sounds at the right frequency and phase. I'm
using a Phase Locked Loop to actually lock on the brain patterns during
slow wave sleep and then play back to the brain these same patterns to
exploit possible resonances in the relevant neural network.

We have done a pilot study (also testing every day the system on myself to
try many different parameters and set up) and we got an increase of slow
wave power anything in between 20-50 % that is more than what you get with
some of the sedative drugs available.
I hope one day to develop a system that is portable and easy enough to use
that people could actually use it at home with a wireless EEG and smart
phone.
Just wanted to share this with the group, sleep is a cool subject.

Giovanni


On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 5:27 AM, John Grigg <possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com>wrote:

> My question for the list is just how "transhumanist" are your dreams?  My
> own tend to feel like low-budget indie films, where I don't get the girl,
> and nothing very futuristic happens.  The last dream I had that I remember
> well, had me running around in a Prince of Persia style place (I've never
> played the games or seen the film), where at one point I jumped and fell
> around 100 feet, and to my surprise (in the dream) was not hurt.  As things
> progressed I met a very beautiful woman in a sort of a tasteful I Dream of
> Genie outfit (I don't have a sexy dental hygienist in my life like Spike
> does, so I have to settle for this), who at one point sat in my lap, but
> then ran off with a more exciting guy, in a quest to save the day...
>
>
> I had a dream several years ago where I was dressed along the lines
> of Robin Hood, relaxing on the grass, and in a retro steampunk city that
> made me think of Atlantis.  A parade was going on, with scantily clad women
> on floats, that ran in front of an extremely deep man-made body
> of absolutely crystal clear water.  Monstrously huge gears and cogs were
> submerged inside of it, for some unknown purpose, and people were zipping
> around on the surface with strange looking water jet-ski's that didn't seem
> to have enough parts to possibly operate.  A New Age female friend listened
> carefully as I spoke about the dream, and then declared authoritatively
> that I was remembering a previous life that occurred during the age of
> Atlantis!  ; )
>
>
> Anyway, I just wondered if some of you had really amazing dreams about the
> future, and how much stock if any, you put into them.  And has anyone ever
> tried lucid dreaming?  Years ago I spent $300 on a Novadreamer device to
> help me to lucid dream, but I could never get the desired effect.
>
>
> John
>
>
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