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Okay, Chelsea, this week in Fringy Minis,

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I think this is somewhat in line with the talk about AI

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and technology that we've been having,

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but it elaborates a little on it.

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And it's most importantly from one of our favorite sources,

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Vice News.

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Of course.

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This is posted on November 3rd

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and written by Becky Ferrara.

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Scientists are researching a device

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that can induce lucid dreams on demand.

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Yeah, sounds pretty interesting, hey?

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Yeah.

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Have you ever had the bizarre experience

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of seemingly waking up inside your own dream?

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You can tell you're not fully conscious.

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That's a dreamscape all around you after all,

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but you're aware enough to be able

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to control parts of the phantasm.

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These so-called lucid dreams can be extremely meaningful

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and transformative moments for the roughly half of adults

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who are reported having them at least once in their lifetime.

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That's why a new tech star, Prophetic,

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aims to bring lucid dreams to a much wider audience

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by developing a wearable device designed

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to spark the experience when desired.

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Prophetic is the brainchild of Eric Wolberg,

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its chief executive officer, and Wesley Louis Berry III.

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Its chief technology officer.

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How can you have the name the third

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and be a technology officer?

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Those just seem like they can't be the same.

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Like one of those has a crown in scepter

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and the other is a tech guy.

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I love your rubbery-

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Always sweatpants.

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Anyhow, the pair co-founded the company earlier this year

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with the goal of combining technologies

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such as ultrasound and machine learning models

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to, quote, detect when dreamers are in REM,

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a rapid eye movement sleep,

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to induce and stabilize lucid dreams,

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end quote with a device called the Halo

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according to the company website.

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And here's a quote from Wolberg himself.

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It's an extraordinary thing to become aware in your mind

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and in your own dreams.

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It's a surreal and spiritual experience.

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Recreationally, it's the ultimate VR experience.

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You can fly, you can make a building rise out of the ground,

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you can talk to dream characters, and you can explore,

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end quote.

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Berry also has a quote here.

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The list of benefits of lucid dreaming is long.

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There's everything from helping with PTSD,

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reducing anxiety and improving mood,

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confidence, motor skills and creativity.

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The benefits are really outstanding, end quote.

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Prophetic does not make any medical claims

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about its forthcoming products.

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Halo is tentatively slated to be released in 2025.

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Though Wolberg and Berry both expressed optimism

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about broader scientific research

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that suggests lucid dreams can reduce PTSD,

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related nightmares, promote mindfulness,

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and open new windows into the mysterious nature

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of consciousness.

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To explore those links further,

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Prophetic has partnered with the Daunders Institute,

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a research centered at Radboud University in the Netherlands

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that is focused on neuroscience and cognition

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to generate the largest data set of electroencephalogram.

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Don't know how to say that.

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And functional magnetic resonance imaging,

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fMRI observations of lucid dreamers according to the company.

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The collaboration will also explore one of the central

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technologies behind Prophetic's vision,

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known as transcranial focused ultrasounds.

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This noninvasive technique uses low intensity

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ultrasound pulses to probe the brain

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and interact with neural activity with a depth

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and precision that cannot be achieved with previous methods

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such as transcranial electrical stimulation

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and transcranial magnetic stimulation.

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Quote, it is great to see and support the development

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of lucid dreaming devices for home use

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that implement potent technologies

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such as transcranial ultrasound,

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while high density studies in the lab are necessary

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to fully describe lucid dreaming,

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the ultimate goal of this research is broad applicability.

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This cannot be achieved when subjects have to come

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to the lab to experience them.

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And home devices to improve sleep experience,

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including lucid dream induction,

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have been around for quite a few years,

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but they were rather bulky

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and had rather low induction rates.

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They focus neuromodulation is a recent technological

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development and that has huge potential,

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not only for lucid dream induction,

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but to flexibly alter other parameters of sleep

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and cognition as well.

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It is exciting to see that this will be possible

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and what the limits may be.

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Said Nico Adelhofer, a researcher at Daunder's Sleep

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and Memory Lab, who is working with prophetic.

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So at this point, both the possibilities

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and limits of prophetic's concept remain unclear,

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while ultrasound devices have been widely used

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in medicine for decades.

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The process of stimulating parts of the brain

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with TUS is a relatively new development.

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And within the past few years,

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scientists have shown that TUS has the potential

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to be used both as a scientific instrument

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to investigate brain function

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and as a therapeutic modality to modulate brain activity.

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According to a 2019 study and could be a useful tool

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in the treatment of a clinical disorder

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characterized by negative mood states

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like depression and anxiety disorders.

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I think that's a good spot to stop it.

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And just because I forgot to define it earlier

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to U.S.'s trans cranial focused ultrasounds.

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I feel like this is the starting of a horror movie.

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I mean, it's good.

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It sounds good, but I feel like so much can go wrong.

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And that's just my feeling.

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It's based on absolutely nothing

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except watching Nightmare on Elm Street.

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It does feel a little bit like my...

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His name wasn't Freddy Krueger, was it?

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There was no Freddy Krueger.

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There was a third person, but...

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I mean, that just sounds like something

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Freddy Krueger would disguise his nightmares.

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It reminds me of a, oh, David Cronenberg movie

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from like early 2000s,

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where it's like you're playing a video game

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and like if you die and you die in real life

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and it's like you plug in and like very organic stuff.

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Very Cronenberg-esque, but I'm curious.

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It's something that probably we won't actually see

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in our lifetimes, but it's curious nonetheless.

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It is. No, it's a good article.

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And I mean, it could be good.

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I mean, I don't see anything wrong with it

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other than the fact that I...

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Maybe it's just too many scary movies.

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Yeah, it seems when people are fucking with dreams,

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it's always a horror movie, is it not?

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Oh yeah, of course, yes.

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All the bad guys want into your dreams.

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Yeah, actually, and that makes sense

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where the third comes in.

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Yeah, he's a bad guy.

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Because anybody who is a third is a bad guy.

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Just has to be.

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Yeah, the third one is always a bad guy.

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Yeah, because you know, that means you're your child

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of plotters who have been plotting for generations

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to at least name you the third and plotters are evil.

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Let's face it.

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You know what?

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I was actually thinking the other day,

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have you ever heard of someone like the fifth or sixth?

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You ever meet someone?

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There's lots of royalty that do that.

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Like, King Henry the Eighth is the most famous of them.

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Right, okay, you got me.

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Okay, that's a good example.

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Yeah, okay, yeah, it exists.

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But yeah, that at least gives you something to ponder

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and maybe to think of a fucking with dreams movie

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that isn't a horror movie that you can tell us about

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because I'm pretty sure they're just all horror movies.

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Yeah, we want a good happy story, fairy tale.

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If you can't do it in the next 48 hours,

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just forget about it because that's your time limit on this.

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So, see you Friday.

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Get on it, bye.