Our perception of reality is more fluid than we tend to believe. When we drift off to sleep, our brain creates entire worlds perceptually indistinguishable from reality, and even our most treasured memories are really just our minds\u2019 reconstruction of past events. This fascinating ability of the brain to create and alter our perceived reality has driven scientists to explore whether these mental processes could be artificially influenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ability to influence our dreams, heal traumatic memories, or even digitise consciousness could revolutionise how we experience life itself. At the same time, it raises some serious ethical concerns we cannot afford to ignore. We need to move forward thoughtfully, asking ourselves not just whether we can develop these technologies, but whether we should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can you really trust your perception of reality? Think about it for a moment: right now, you probably feel pretty sure about what\u2019s real and what isn\u2019t. Yet each night when you drift off to sleep, your brain conjures up entire worlds, complete with sights, sounds, and even physical sensations that feel absolutely real… until you wake up. And it\u2019s not just dreams. Every memory you have, no matter how vivid, is just your brain reconstructing past events \u2013 a mental simulation that might not be as accurate as you think. When you remember your last birthday or your first kiss, you\u2019re not actually experiencing those moments again \u2013 you\u2019re experiencing your brain\u2019s interpretation of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if our brains can naturally create such convincing false realities, is it so far-fetched to think that we could someday develop technology that could accomplish<\/a> the same thing? Believe it or not, we\u2019re already making some progress in that direction. Neuroscientists have gotten pretty good at decoding brain signals in recent years \u2013 good enough to translate them into commands for moving computer cursors or robotic limbs. But sending signals back into the brain? That\u2019s where things get tricky. To create truly convincing artificial experiences our mind would perceive as real, we\u2019d need to know the precise function of each individual neuron in our brain and how they work together to create our perception of reality. How difficult could that<\/em> be? Let\u2019s find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Immersive technologies like AR and VR have proven very effective in manipulating our sensory perception, even if only temporarily.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a way, we can already manipulate reality through immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR). Our experience of the world is ultimately a product of our senses; our eyes pick up light, our noses detect chemical signals in the air – you get the picture. All of this information is then processed by our brains to create our perception of reality. When you put on a VR headset or AR glasses, you\u2019re essentially allowing technology to override<\/a> what your eyes and ears would otherwise perceive. While AR and VR still have certain limitations \u2013 the resolution isn\u2019t quite perfect, there\u2019s still some lag, and the field of view is limited \u2013 users often become so deeply immersed in virtual environments that they briefly forget they\u2019re experiencing an artificial world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The experience can feel so realistic that the user will reach out to touch a virtual object or flinch when something flies toward their face in VR. These instinctive reactions show how readily our brains can accept artificial input as real. Of course, the illusion maintained by AR and VR remains tethered to external hardware \u2013 remove the headset or glasses, and the real world reasserts itself instantly. However, the kind of direct neural interface technology we\u2019re talking about in this article goes a step further than a mere visual overlay. Instead of placing screens in front of your eyes or speakers near your ears, it would bypass<\/a> your physical senses entirely, creating experiences by directly stimulating your brain\u2019s sensory processing centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have no doubt that dream engineering could open many minds, heal others and help us to understand one another more clearly.\u201d<\/p>\nAdam Haar Horowitz, researcher at MIT Media Lab<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Scientists have demonstrated that it may be possible to insert content into people\u2019s dreams and even control their direction. But is this such a good idea?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We spend a huge portion of our life sleeping \u2013 about a third of it, in fact. That\u2019s because sleep is a very important thing: in addition to giving our brain the time it needs to process the day\u2019s information, it also enables our body to rest and recuperate from daily exertion. Of course, when we\u2019re sleeping we usually enter a dream state. Often those dreams can be very pleasant, but sometimes they can be downright terrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you\u2019re experiencing a blissful fantasy or a horrific nightmare, all dreams have one thing in common \u2013 they\u2019re largely beyond our conscious control. When we dream, we\u2019re essentially passive observers in a story created by our subconscious mind. We can\u2019t choose to dream about flying instead of falling, or transform a frightening scenario into a pleasant one. We can\u2019t decide to explore specific locations or interact with particular people. The narrative has always unfolded independently of our conscious desires \u2013 until now, that is.\u00a0 Around the world, research teams have been hard at work trying to give us a little bit more control over our dreaming lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in 2020, a team of researchers from MIT Media Lab discovered<\/a> it might be possible to insert ideas into a person\u2019s mind while they sleep and thus manipulate the contents of their dreams. During the study, participants were asked to wear a sleep tracker called Dormio and record some simple audio prompts, such as \u201cremember to think of a tree\u201d, before going to bed. As they drifted off to sleep, the tracker would monitor various physiological markers \u2013 heart rate, electrical changes on the surface of their skin, and finger movements \u2013 to identify when participants entered hypnagogia, a transitional state between wakefulness and sleep when the mind is more receptive to external stimuli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the tracker determined that the person has entered this sleep stage, the device would play the prompts back to them in an attempt to influence what they dream about. And it actually worked! According to researchers, as many as 67% of participants reported having dreams involving a tree. While this obviously doesn\u2019t offer definitive proof that it\u2019s possible to control dreams, it does suggest that the whole idea may not be entirely far-fetched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More recently, US-based startup Prophetic announced plans to launch a device named the Halo, which purportedly enables anyone to take control<\/a> of their dreams. Shaped like a headband, the device is worn on your head during sleep and uses a combination of EEG sensors and high-frequency ultrasound waves to monitor the user\u2019s sleep patterns and induce a dreamstate known as lucid dreaming. In this type of dream, which occurs spontaneously during the REM stage of sleep, the person is aware that they are dreaming and may sometimes even be able to influence what happens in the dream. While this isn\u2019t something that happens on a daily basis, it\u2019s estimated<\/a> that around 70% of people will experience at least one lucid dream over the course of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier research has also shown that lucid dreaming may have some real-world benefits. For example, a study conducted at the University of Bern in Switzerland found that participants who practised flipping coins into a cup in lucid dreams demonstrated a significant improvement in performance the next day, as opposed to the control group which showed no improvement. According to the company, by inducing a lucid dreamstate, the Halo could enable users to exercise their creativity, explore new ideas, or even solve real-world problems in their sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow immersive technologies manipulate reality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Take control of your dreams<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A dream within a dream<\/h3>\n\n\n\n