Sunday, May 18, 2014

Dreams and Fiction: Reaction Paper on Inception - Arvin Wilson S. Alba, 2011-18060

Dreams and Fiction
Arvin Wilson S. Alba, 2011-18060
Most knowledge on the inner workings of dreaming still remain a mystery to the science world. Partly for this reason, dreams have become an endless source of fascination and inspiration in the world of fiction and literature.

As evidence, throughout history, from Alice in Wonderland to The Matrix, dreams have been a primary motif in many different art forms. One of the latest manifestation of this fascination is Inception, released just a few years ago. Here, the protagonists attempt to plant an idea into someone else’s mind by architecting the idea into a dream.

Humankind’s fascination with dreams is actually just one aspect of his fascination with human consciousness. It is amazing that the consciousness that is unlocking the secrets of the subatomic world still does not completely understand how his consciousness works. It is even more amazing that this same unknowing consciousness is taking to film and other art forms to further speculate on its inner workings. Human consciousness has reached so far with only limited working knowledge of how it works.

Thus, it is obvious why this fascination exists. Human’s consciousness is ever visible to the artist’s and scientist’s mind, further magnifying the irony it presents. Furthermore, no other aspect of humankind affects human thought more than its consciousness. Thus, fully understanding human consciousness as well as the ability to manipulate it have implications that will radically transform our day-to-day lives.

Humankind’s fascination with dreams and human consciousness are transforming as we gain even more deeper knowledge in the field of neuroscience. Before, most art only dealt with what we see and experience in dreams. Recently, however, art and fiction is speculating on the possibilities of dreams and human consciousness, and how they can be manipulated by man-made technologies. Inception, again, is a very good example. Here, technology allows access of the consciousness to the dreaming mind’s subconsciousness. A more recent example would be Transcendence, where human consciousness was uploaded to a computer, allowing it to exist in digital form.

Science and technology are slowly figuring out how to unleash the full power of the human mind. I personally can’t wait to find out what the future may hold.

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