Featured Image Credit: Prophetic. Warner Bros.
Topics: News, Technology, Science
Charisa Bossinakis
Scientists are currently developing a device that could induce lucid dreams on command.
Yes, people, the future is here, and it's scary.
The AI company Prophetic is creating a non-invasive neural device to stabilize and elicit lucid dreaming.
The prototype dubbed 'Halo', which looks more like a tennis headband, sends signals to the brain to make this possible.
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The company has partnered with Card79, which designed and built hardware for Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company, Neuralink.
Prophetic previously raised a $1.1 million funding round with participation from a16z’s Scout Fund, led by BoxGroup, to develop the new-age device.
To those of you playing at home, lucid dreaming is a unique and often sought-after state of consciousness in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming while the dream is occurring.
Cue music from Inception.
Eric Wollberg, the brainchild of Prophetic, along with Wesley Berry, has always been interested in using dreams to explore consciousness.
The pair first met earlier this year when Wollberg began researching lucid dreams while Berry was working with the musician Grimes on translating neural signals into art.
The two were enticed by how brain-imaging tools could help create a visual of someone’s thought patterns.
“It's an extraordinary thing to become aware in your own mind and in your own dreams; it's a surreal and spiritual-esque experience,” Wollberg told Vice.
The co-founder shared that he has had lucid dreams since he was 12.
“Recreationally, it's the ultimate VR experience. You can fly, you can make a building rise out of the ground, you can talk to dream characters, and you can explore," he added.
However, the benefits of lucid dreams don't just make for a great dinner party story.
Berry noted how controlling your dreams can help with PTSD, reduce anxiety, and improve mood, confidence, motor skills, and creativity.
"The benefits are really outstanding," he continued.
Nico Adelhöfer, a researcher at Donders’s Sleep & Memory Lab who is working with Prophetic, said this could just be the start of a significant scientific breakthrough.
"Safe focused neuromodulation is a recent technological development that has huge potential not only for lucid dream induction but to flexibly alter other parameters of sleep and cognition as well. It is exciting to see what will be possible and what the limits may be," he said.