Do Humans Dream of Electric Ads?
Doron Darnov
Intermédialités Histoire et théorie des arts des lettres et des techniques September 28, 2023 DOI: 10.7202/1106557ar (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Dream Capitalism Sleep system call Frontier Consumption sociology Exploit State computer science Social science Computer security Psychotherapist |
| Key points | Argues that targeted dream incubation anticipates a future in which capitalism incorporates and exploits sleep as a novel frontier of economic optimization. |
Abstract
Responding to Molson Coors’ 2021 attempt to implant commercials into the dreams of sleeping consumers, I explore how emerging forms of “targeted dream incubation” threaten to transform sleep from a condition of economic refuge into a state of intensified exposure to “24/7” rhythms of economic engagement. More specifically, I argue that developing research in “dream engineering” shifts contemporary relationships to sleep by suggesting that the time we spend asleep might become even more suitable to imposed procedures of economic production and consumption than time spent awake. Rather than re-affirming a fundamental incompatibility between sleep and capitalism, I argue that targeted dream incubation anticipates a future in which capitalism incorporates and exploits sleep as a novel frontier of economic optimization.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dreaming: a conceptual framework for philosophy of mind and empirical research | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming | 2015 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |