Can Computers Dream?

When we close our eyes, and shut down our senses as we head into sleep, the brain continues to run— and assembles on its own whole universes of experience, arising from the neural connections established (for the most part) during waking hours.

When we speak of dreaming, we are talking of a mind running freely, without being controlled by external influences; in effect, self-assembling new patterns— dreams. So in this sense allowing a simulated brain to run on its own and then observing the result resembles watching computer dreams. The interaction, then, is not to change the dream, but to change the dreamer. The dream evolves in a new direction as a result. Trying to change the dream directly only obscures the detailed interconnections it possesses. These interconnections are the source of beauty, and we by treating them as sacred we place ourselves in closer intimacy with the alien.

-- AWB 2001