Are dreams real?

Quote from: Particle Person on March 22, 2011, 08:51:14 PM

Quote from: Tom Bishop on March 22, 2011, 08:27:48 PM

If Einstein had dreamed up E=MC² would his theories be any less valid?

If Newton had dreamed up F=MA would his theories be any less valid?

If Stephen Hawking had dreamed up his theory of expanding space-time would his theory be any less valid?

The difference is between having something revealed to you in a dream that can later be verified and tested in the material world; and something revealed to you in a dream that only the dream itself is evidence for. I believe the latter is what the OP is asking about.

If I dream up 1+1=2 I don't need to test out my equation in the real world for it to be valid. The equation was already validated in my dream.

Tom, I thought that you were all about peer review.  How do you peer review a dream?

Quote from: Tom Bishop on March 23, 2011, 08:47:14 AM

Quote from: Particle Person on March 22, 2011, 08:51:14 PM

Quote from: Tom Bishop on March 22, 2011, 08:27:48 PM

If Einstein had dreamed up E=MC² would his theories be any less valid?

If Newton had dreamed up F=MA would his theories be any less valid?

If Stephen Hawking had dreamed up his theory of expanding space-time would his theory be any less valid?

The difference is between having something revealed to you in a dream that can later be verified and tested in the material world; and something revealed to you in a dream that only the dream itself is evidence for. I believe the latter is what the OP is asking about.

If I dream up 1+1=2 I don't need to test out my equation in the real world for it to be valid. The equation was already validated in my dream.

Tom, I thought that you were all about peer review.  How do you peer review a dream?

Telepathically linking minds before dreaming.

If I dream up 1+1=2 I don't need to test out my equation in the real world for it to be valid. The equation was already validated in my dream.

Uh oh...you weren't dreaming about rain, were you?

Quote from: General Disarray on March 22, 2011, 11:00:45 PM

So if the theories I refer to (the ones that only have people's dreams to back them up) were true, I would expect the dreams to be followed up with rigorous investigation to prove them. Sadly, this is not the case.

Unfortunately, ascertaining whether or not Luna exist through non-oneiric means is not presently within our capacity. Also, it's worth pointing out that following up oneiric discoveries with "rigorous investigation" would not automatically make them "true".

Yeah... but not testing it beyond only oneiric means ALSO does not make it true either, in fact it doesn't provide any useful evidence at all... and yet there are a number of people that swear by it as "the gospel truth" on this site.  At least some "rigorous investigation" could provide some evidence to their existence or to the probability that they might be completely fictitious and the product of someone's dreams only.

Quote from: Particle Person on March 22, 2011, 08:51:14 PM

Quote from: Tom Bishop on March 22, 2011, 08:27:48 PM

If Einstein had dreamed up E=MC² would his theories be any less valid?

If Newton had dreamed up F=MA would his theories be any less valid?

If Stephen Hawking had dreamed up his theory of expanding space-time would his theory be any less valid?

The difference is between having something revealed to you in a dream that can later be verified and tested in the material world; and something revealed to you in a dream that only the dream itself is evidence for. I believe the latter is what the OP is asking about.

If I dream up 1+1=2 I don't need to test out my equation in the real world for it to be valid. The equation was already validated in my dream.

This is erroneous thinking, you are using an example that you know is true before you even had the dream.  You already knew 1+1=2, so dreaming about 1+1=2 does not contribute and valid evidence to a fact that was already known ahead of time.

If Newton had dreamed up F=MA, if Einstein had dreamed up E=MC², if Stephen Hawking had dreamed up his theory of expanding space-time, then they would all still have to study the idea in the real world and demonstrate (provide real world evidence) that it was (at least somewhat) an accurate reflection of reality.  Just dreaming up anything and submitting that as your sole source of evidence is not credible by itself without further external testing and study of the idea itself, not the dream interpretation in particular.