Good grief, what next? Researchers claim they have been able to change the dreams of rats. From the Daily Mail story:
Using correlative analysis, they confirmed the rats were dreaming about the previous day’s exploits in the enclosure but when researchers played the audio cues from the experiment, they found the rats’ dreams would change. They were now dreaming about the section of the maze associated with that signal.
This proved that the contents of their dreams could be modified by an outside party re-activating certain memories while they were asleep. Wilson told the website that this ‘dream engineering’ opens the door to more invasive control of memory processing during sleep. He said it even opened up the possibility of certain memories being enhanced, changed or even blocked from our minds.
Once could see a therapeutic benefit for those suffering from intractable nightmares. One could even see such manipulations sold as a form of recreational experience.
But like much of modern biotechnology, it also opens some very worrisome cans of worms. Does this mean we will have to have laws protecting the freedom to dream without outside interference?
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
