The true nature of dreams remains unsolved even in the Reiwa era. One of the greatest mysteries that humanity has yet to solve: "dreams," "dreams," "dreams." What exactly is this phenomenon? Is it really happening inside the brain? "dreams," "dreams," "dreams."

Do you remember the dream you had yesterday?

You were flying in the sky.

For some reason, you were at elementary school.

You were talking to your grandfather who should have passed away.

You had won the lottery.

You were dating the person you like.

And then you woke up.

A few minutes later, you have forgotten most of that dream.

I want you to think about it for a moment.

We spend about one-third of our lives sleeping.

If you live to be 80, that is approximately 26 years.

In other words, humanity spends,

longer than touching a smartphone,

longer than working,

longer than falling in love,

"sleeping."

Nevertheless.

Humanity has yet to fully explain what the "dreams" that occur during that time actually are.

AI writes novels,

self-driving cars are on the road,

We live in an age where humanity talks about colonizing Mars.

And yet.

We still do not know the true nature of the nonsensical movies that are screened inside our own brains every night.

It is a little funny.

And a little scary.

Humanity thinks it has solved the mystery of dreams.

Many people think.

"Haven't dreams already been explained by science?"

They think.

Actually, that is not the case.

There are influential theories.

Memory Consolidation Theory

The brain is organizing unnecessary information.

Emotional Regulation Theory

It is processing unpleasant experiences and anxieties.

Simulation Theory

It is practicing how to deal with danger.

Random Signal Theory

The brain is just assigning meaning to signals it produced on its own.

All of them have some merit.

However, there is no definitive answer.

In other words, if you were to crudely translate the honest opinion of the scientific community,

"Maybe it's something like this...?"

is where it stops.

Of course, brain science has progressed.

We have MRIs.

We can measure brain waves.

We can see neural activity.

However.

"Why does it take the form of a dream?"

remains a mystery.

If the brain is just organizing information,

why does it become such an incoherent story?

Why do you suddenly warp to school?

Why do you dream of going to work naked?

Why do ex-lovers appear in dreams, but the convenience store clerk you met yesterday doesn't?

Even to a brain scientist,

dreams are quite incomprehensible.

Humans like the "feeling of understanding"

There is something interesting here.

Humanity hates not knowing things.

So, we create explanations.

In the past.

Lightning was a god.

Illness was a curse.

A solar eclipse was an ominous omen.

In truth, we didn't know.

But because "not knowing" is unsettling,

we created stories.

Dreams are similar.

That is the reason dream interpretation has survived for thousands of years.

It is not because it is accurate.

It is because it provides peace of mind.

"Dreaming of a snake means good fortune."

"Dreaming of being chased means you are stressed."

"Dreaming of flying in the sky is a desire for freedom."

I see.

It is certainly interesting.

But whether that is truly the case is a separate issue.

Humanity has, since long ago,

Preferring explanations over the truth.

What has become highlighted in the AI era, conversely.

Recently, AI has been advancing rapidly.

Writing text.

Drawing pictures.

Creating videos.

Composing music.

And then, it becomes visible in reverse.

Humans, don't we not understand ourselves at all?

That is the fact.

To create AI, it was thought necessary to understand the brain.

That is what was believed.

However, in reality, it was different.

AI has developed.

Yet, a massive amount of mysteries about the brain remain.

Dreams.

Consciousness.

Emotions.

Subjectivity.

Intuition.

Creativity.

None of these are anywhere near being fully explained.

Humanity has been to the moon.

Yet, we cannot explain the phenomenon that occurs inside our own heads every night.

There is no irony greater than this.

Dreams are similar to life itself.

There is a reason why I personally find dreams interesting.

Dreams are nonsensical.

The narrative jumps around.

Characters change.

The setting changes.

They are full of contradictions.

However.

When you look back after waking up,

for some reason, it feels like it was a single story.

Life is similar.

Events that seemed meaningless during your student days.

A failed job.

A former lover.

A lost opportunity.

A detour.

A dark past.

At the time, it makes no sense.

But when looking back later,

it strangely seems to connect.

Humans do not understand events as they are.

They edit them into a form that can be understood.

Perhaps both dreams and life,

are a massive editing process by the brain.

A gem of a sentence that touches the heart

Even though humanity is trying to observe the edge of the universe, we still do not know the true nature of the events that happen behind our eyelids every night.

Dreams are "proof of ignorance" and also a source of hope

Looking at social media,

it seems like there are more people who know everything.

Politics, too.

Economics, too.

Education, too.

Life, too.

Love, too.

Everyone speaks with certainty.

But reality is different.

Humanity still does not even know the true nature of dreams.

In other words.

It is full of things we do not understand.

This is not despair.

I think it is rather hope.

There are still mysteries.

We can still explore.

The world has not yet been fully explained.

Every time I dream, I think.

Humans have become wise.

But we still do not understand everything.

And that very fact,

is what makes humanity interesting.