Dreams And Quantum Physics

Now, suppose world-boundedness is incorrect — or at least can be relaxed as a constraint for both Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) and the possible worlds framework. What follows for the nature and functions of dreaming? First, note that dreaming largely consists of counterfactual simulations of what might have been and what might be for the dreamer. A first default and easy hypothesis would be then that dreaming actually really depicts events occurring in a real alternate world unfolding from the initial branching event. Given that counterfactual simulations are constructions of alternate histories and futures for the dreamer, we ask: Where do these alternate histories occur? The most reasonable answer is, of course, they occur in the mind of the dreamer. But this is a thought experiment, so we can ask: If the many-worlds framework is correct and dreaming consists of counterfactual simulations of what might have been and what might be for the dreamer in a world that branches off of the dreamer’s parent world, then is it possible that dreams actually depict what is going on in the life of my counterpart in the alternate world he lives in? If that is the case, then my dreams are portals into the life of one of these branching worlds predicted by the MWI. If so, then we can further ask: What does the dreamer’s counterpart in the daughter world dream of? If you have a counterpart in an alternate world, he has dreams. What does he dream of? He is presumably dreaming of you (his counterpart) and your life’s events. Is, therefore, your counterpart’s counterfactual simulations real accurate depictions of your actual life? In this case, we now have an answer to all those many philosophers who have asked, 'is life but a dream?' The answer is literally yes; the dream of a counterpart to you who lives in a branching universe that is a daughter world to your world.

Patrick McNamara, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at Northcentral University, Associate Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and Research Associate Professor of Neurology at Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota School Of Medicine in Minneapolis. He is the author of over 60 papers on sleep and dreams several single author books and co-edited volumes on sleep and dreams. His most recent book is 'The neuroscience of sleep and dreams' (Cambridge University Press, 2019). He maintains a blog on sleep and dreams for Psychology Today online https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/dream-catcher. He has been awarded grants from the National Institutes of Health to study evolutionary biology and functions of sleep and dreams as well as REM and NREM dream differences. In 2009-10 he appeared on the PBS (NOVA), program ‘What Are Dreams?’ In 2012-13 he appeared in PBS 'Closer to Truth' series on sleep and dreams. In 2013 he was named Chief Science Advisor to Dreamboard.com. He is regularly interviewed on sleep and dreams in international media forums including online blogs, traditional radio and TV, and traditional print magazines/newspapers such as Time magazine, Science Weekly, and the Daily Mail in London. His work on nightmares and dreams has been turned into a theater production and an art installation in Washington DC.

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