Stanford Neuroscientist: Can’t Remember Your Dreams? Your Brain May Be Warning You!

After many many decades of people debating this, you might have figured out the reason why we dream. Yes. And it's a simple answer. So if you go blind, the visual cortex in the back of the brain gets taken over by hearing and by touch and by other things. In fact, our colleagues at Harvard did an experiment where they blindfolded normally sighted people and you could start seeing that takeover happening after sixty minutes. And that's when we realized, wow. The purpose of dreaming is to defend the visual territory from takeover from the other senses. But what fascinates me about brain plasticity and what I've devoted my career to is figuring out the way that we can be the sculptors of our own brains and how it gives us an opportunity to become the kind of person we would like to be. And can we do that? Yes. Here's the thing. Your brain peaked at the age of tube.

Okay, so at the beginning, you've got fluid intelligence meaning you could learn anything. But now that you have grown up in this world, you've got crystallized intelligence meaning you know how to drive a car, you know how to operate a cell phone, you know how to run a business, and so your brain doesn't require as much change. Which means that the structure of the brain is always degenerating. So the set of actions that will fundamentally change my brain and make me that type of person who's motivated and disciplined and who has high agency and attacks the world. So this is something I've studied in my lab for decades now. And the key is that And what about AI and the social media debate as it relates to brain development? Well, I happen to be a cyber optimist for young people. I think it's gonna make them much smarter than the generation that came before. And here's why. Interesting. Guys, I've got a favor to ask before this episode begins. The algorithm, if you follow a show, will deliver you the best episodes from that show very prominently in your feed. So when we have our best episodes on this show

The most shared episodes, the most rated episodes. I would love you to know. And the simple way for you to know that is to hit that follow button. But also it's the simple easy free thing that you can do to help us make this show better. And I would be hugely grateful if you could take a minute on the app you're listening to this one right now and hit that follow button. Thank you so, so so much. doctor David Eagleman.

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