How Lucid Dreaming Lets Dreamers Rehearse for Real Life
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How Lucid Dreaming Lets Dreamers Rehearse for Real Life

It's the brain's own virtual reality.

Virtual reality is no easy business. Even a bare-bones version needs hours of programming, a decent computer and, eventually, shelling out some $200 for VR headgear. But what if that wasn't necessary? What if the best alternate reality environment were enclosed inside our brain, and could be accessed just by taking a nap?

Or maybe not? Morley told me that attempts to use lucid dreaming as a form of otherworldly communication are quite common among lucidity enthusiasts. The way to do it is sending a "message"—which could actually be an element of the dream—to other "lucid" friends. "Once, for instance, my fianceé, while in a lucid dream, decided to send me a woolly mammoth," Morley told me. "I have no proof to say that the communication actually worked— what I know is that that same night I lucid-dreamt of an elephant running around on the streets of London."

Perfect Worlds is a series on Motherboard about simulations, imitations, and models. Follow along here.