We envision that nightmare treatments, learning enhancements, overnight therapy, augmentation of creativity, and overcoming addiction are all within the realm of possibility. Control of dreams allows for controlled experimentation on dreams, and all the ensuing knowledge that such scientific pursuits promise. There is great opportunity here for growth and insight. Techniques like this suddenly render the dreamscape-a territory that is nearly synonymous with the untamed interior-subject to scientific manipulation. For example, a smart-speaker by the bed can determine sleep stages with sound analysis, and can send a signal to a smart sleep mask or necklace to release a specific scent we have preprogrammed to change our emotion and memories overnight. Each of the sleep and dream engineering techniques above is built on top of developments in sensor technology, which enable active intervention on sleep experience and function. This is a moment of transition and transformation for the sort of self-knowledge we can have: Sensors feed images of ourselves back into our eyes and ears, from heartbeats to brainwaves, creating a feedback loop of seeing and being. We are embarking on, and asking others to join, a new kind of dream. The implications could range far and wide. Collectively, we refer to techniques that are meant to alter dreams as Dream Engineering. We have learned that the dreamspace, while it is precious and personal, is also porous and available to outside influence. We haven’t arrived at Inception, and we’re not under the impression that it’s around the corner, but it’s not seeming like complete sci-fi anymore. This includes technologies for enhancing specific memories and dampening others during sleep, techniques that allow the formation of new habits and associations during sleep, and protocols that can change the actual subject matter and substance of dreams. This set of principles is written in response to new scientific developments that enable the direction of specific cognitive content in sleep and dreams. This is an evolving set of ethical principles authored by, and for, the community of dream engineers. By Adam Horowitz, Pattie Maes, and Michelle Carr
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