the computer brain, sleep, and dreaming

[mr d]

hello

 

thought it was time to suggest another odd idea, this time dealing with the brain and dreaming.

people are always asking why do we dream, as it appears most if not all mammals do. or for that matter

why do we need sleep.

attempting to reason this out i conclude it must have to do with the way the mammalian brain is designed

to function structurally. your brain needs to co-ordinate bodily functions and recieve and process external

stimuli, but also must handle internally generated data return from those functions as well. added to

this is the shuffling of stored information as required to preform tasks, and sort and store data collected.

plus the processing of more complex higher level thinking. all sounds rather busy.

to some extent this seems quite like what a computer processing unit does, and i'll start this idea with as many

have suggested that the brain is a type of biological computer. and as a computer has limits on memory and processing speed so does the human brain, and its ability to route and manage data being inputted in to the system.

for memory a computer has a disk drive, the brain the outer cortex (general not specific region) used for information storage. however, and this relates to sleep, like a computer the brain also has a set of ram memory in which programs are run quickly (such as the 512k or 1 gig most people have in their machine), that can in times of need barrow from the outer brains memory to carry out processing.

but like a computer borrowing disk space for virtual memory there is a cost in processing speed. As you stay awake more and more information is poured into this base ram, plus you call up from memory programs as needed for task (such as making a cup of coffee or how to type at a keyboard). but the longer you remain awake and the more you have to preform, both physical and mental tasks, the quicker this memory is consumed. sooner or later your brain has to begin hitting your biologic hard drive, and your ability to think-reason-preform physical tasks begins to decline. your mind has some ability too sort out data to clear space, but like the size of a computer's bus can only handle so transfering so much data at a time. the resault is your body needs to shutdown some systems to clear memory and repioritize what it needs to function. basically it needs you to sleep, time for it to run a sorting program.

as you fall to sleep, which needs to be in stages as unloading from memory such information as how to breath might be concidered a spot bad, your mind shuts down unnessissary functions and unloads now unneeded programs (like how to cook diner) to begin clearing space. but at the same time your body still needs to monitor itself and your surroundings for such things as physical threats. finally you reach a deep sleep, where many cognitive functions are put on hold, and the brain now less cluttered can go though the information sitting in your ram memory and decide what it thinks is important to store and how and where to store it.

once done it now must bring you out of sleep which again must be done in stages. this is where dreaming comes in. as you brain begins to reactivate your cognitive\reasoning systems you are in a state where reasoning does not have full recoginition of the world around it. yet your mind is still doing some sorting, plus pulling in information it considers needed (like steps needed in making that morning cup of coffee). Also emotional states are reloaded.

so now your still sleeping, but your mind is beginning to function. your brain is still doing it's sorting at a lower level moving about information and images, and now that image of the snake you saw at the zoo passes through, or your brain kept it during sort as a percieved possible threat. your brain now doing some cognative functions says 'hey.. there's a snake here. why is there a snake here.' yet you don't quite yet have all the brain functions that can tell you this is only a dream. your mind must try to make sense of this. and here we see the influence of imagination and emotional state, on limited reason. your low level emotions, sometimes refered to as your reptilian brain, says i'm afraid, your imagination now sees the snake as sixty feet long and trying to swallow you. however your reasoning self says 'how can that be, where am i.'. fortunately or unfortunately for you your imagination says 'it's because we've been thrown into a snake pit.'. and between the two create in your mind a snake pit for information and images stored in your memory for you, plus they then manage to create and entire reality in your mind to explain why this event is happening.

i'll be one of those that say dream images are not as important as the emotions played out in dreams. remember that reptilian brain contains base emotions, its the one where by you hate your boss and would love to visciously club the fellow for a while that gets over ruled by your higher function brain while awake. but it is given more free rain while you sleep. and as some suggest dreams might also serve as a means to allow the repressed reptilian brain to act out its raw emotions while you sleep, to help prevent it from carrying out what it might want to do while you awake. hense such sayings as 'sleep on it you'll feel better.'.

 

 

strange thoughts

 

mr d

 

like thoughts and questions?

 

oh... a test for you on the imaginative verus logical parts of your brain. try this on yourself or better yet another person. tell them to imagine this. they're in a long hallway, and they start moving down the hallway and describe the hallway, then finally they see a door at the other end. they move up to the door and go through it. whta's there.

 

time to imagine this...tick...tock...tick...tock

 

while going down the hallway what did it look like. were the walls painted? was there carpeting on the floor? any lights, overhead or wall fixture. what colors were the walls? then how big was the hallway, most people will have a hallway about that in a average office, or their home hallway. why? because to your mind that is the size of a hallway. yet the lights, carpeting, paint color is supplied by your imagination usually based on references objects you've seen combined with your own tastes. and did you walk down the hallway or float? did you walk on the ceiling and not the floor? surprising how many people while imagining still walk on the floor. plus your door, nice shiny brass knob, big old fashion glass, pushbar, or just swinging. did you actually open the door or simply go through it as i said. nasty thing that logical reasoning still makes most people turn the knob and open the door. and what was beyond. logic wants something there, imagination provides.

[mr d]

hello

 

just wondering if anyone tried the hallway test, and what did you find out about your mind. are you more rational or imaginative while dreaming.

respond if you please, else i'm just here talking to myself, or maybe i usually do that anyway as many might suspect.

 

mr d

[FreeThinker]

If you used CAPITAL letters and structured your sentences properly, it might make your posts less agonising to read!

[reor]

I'd believe it's rather the horrifying size of that thing that scares them off.

 

I also like to compare the brain to a computer (or vice versa) and really am happy you typed out all that! I agree on most points and will have to contemplate on the rest.

 

The hallway test reminds me of the Cube game. I imagined an old fashioned hallway with bordeaux-coloured velvet on the walls with golden seams and buttons. The door was locked... :/ There's worse. But my dreams are usually really weird. One time i was dreaming i'm standing at the shore, cobble stones came floating on the water and printed "goldfish glass drinker and breaker" with golden letters on them, though, i've neither ever broken any goldfish nor glass nor goldfish glass, nor drunken either of that. Okay, that was rather funny than weird. How about upside-down floating houses and dinosaurs from outer space?

 

... i watch too much tv.

[mr d]

hello

 

nice to see a free thinker is looking for structure.

as to 'capitols', they frighten me. i was attacked by a rampant herd of capitolized alphabet blocks when very young and never recovered.

 

mr d