pretty high right now. Since we define reality commonly as "the real word" (hence the real root), when you are dreaming you don't even know that it's fake unless you are lucid. so technically isn't the reality you are in right now reading this message just take turns with the other reality? Since we are up for 16 hours on average and sleep and have dreams for 8, isn't it just 3:2?
Well in one reality, which is the one you are in as you read this message, you are awake. You see and hear things thanks to sensation and perception. Your eyes and ears sense light and sound, and send signals to the brain, where the brain process them and perceives different things. When you're in REM, your brain isn't getting signals from your eyes and ears. Instead, it's making up things. It's creating sounds and images on it's own. So I wouldn't call dreaming an alternate reality, because dreaming is simply a figment of your imagination. Then again, reality is so subjective and undefined that it wouldn't be hard to argue against me and bring up legitimate points. Edit- Oh, and you don't dream the entire time you're asleep. You only dream when you're in the REM stage of sleep. The brain has various stages of sleep, depending on the types of brain waves. Stages 1 and 2 are lighter sleep, while Stages 3 and 4 are heavier stages of sleep. Your brain usually cycles through the stages in the order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, REM, and so on. Each time you hit REM, the time you're in REM gets longer. When you're in REM, your body is essentially a stage of paralysis and your eyes are moving rapidly, hence Rapid Eye Movement. Your brain is hard at work dreaming. This is the only sleep you really need to get a good night's rest. Wow, I'm really fucking high right now and this really has nothing to do with the thread, haha. I just loved AP Psychology.
you do have sensation when sleeping, or else a loud noise or bright light would not wake you up. someone once told me that smell is the only sense that is not functioning during sleep...well i lost my sense of smell 2 months ago so thats meaningless to me the building blocks of dreams are your thoughts/ideas which are perceptions of reality. sure, in your dream the reality may be distorted, but this is also possible when you are awake. so whats the difference between dreams and reality?? it is just a reality that only you are experiencing, as opposed to the general, collective reality
Dreams may be even more important than physical reality. After all, your dreams are your creations. Now, who's the most important person in the world?
I would disagree that dreams are reality for this reason, each dream is affected by your regular, non-dream life in some way. Dreams are normally wish-fulfillments, thought condensations, or thought processing.(Cf. Sigmund Freud - The Interpretation of Dreams) Real life vividly affects dreams, but dreams do not vividly affect real life. Therefore I don't see dreams as an alternate reality, just a brain function.
They can be. Tuesday night I had a dream that I was being taken to jail in shackles. Wednesday morning I find out I have a bench warrant for a court date I missed that I was never notified of for a charge I got in october 2008. I got it straightened out, apparently alot of people didn't receive notice of their court date for some reason.