Dreams are a precious resource. Don’t let advertisers hack them
Dream-hacking techniques can help us create, heal and have fun. They could also become tools of commercial manipulation
«Since sleep loss is known to increase risk-taking behaviour, one might expect to be hit with targeted ads for online gambling.»
More from Aeon+Psyche
Slow down, it’s what your brain has been begging for
It’s no small task to live a life of sustained attention. So slow down, and give your brain a break to do its work
«Paying attention to the moment during a walk shifts focus away from the internally generated, anxiety-provoking scenarios, creating much-needed space.»
How to know what you really want
From career choices to new purchases, use René Girard’s mimetic theory to resist the herd and forge your own path in life
«These are people whose desires are in some sense intertwined with your own – they can affect your desires, and you can in turn affect theirs»
You May Also Like
Scientists entered people’s dreams and got them ‘talking’
Dreaming experiments involved real-time conversations between sleepers and scientists
«he likens it to the first conversation using a telephone or talking to an astronaut on another planet. Dreamers live in a “world entirely fabricated of memories stored in the brain,” he says. Now, researchers appear to have found a way to communicate with people in that world.»
Why Great Things Never Came From Comfort Zones
Why great things never came from comfort zones? Because the world is always changing. We need to face uncertainty to move forward.
«But what you’ll find out eventually. If, of course, you decide to stick with these scary routines. Is that life feels much more meaningful.»
Can lucid dreaming help us understand consciousness?
The ability to control our dreams is a skill that more of us are seeking to acquire for sheer pleasure. But if taken seriously, scientists believe it could unlock new secrets of the mind
«It has been hard to get someone to lucid dream in the noisy, constrained environment of an fMRI scanner. But it can be done»
What dream characters reveal about the astonishing dreaming brain
Such stuff as dreams are made on: the characters who populate your dreams have their own minds, separate from yours
«However, the way that your brain keeps much of the dream ‘script’ and dream characters’ minds outside of your immediate awareness isn’t just a fascinating quirk that’s worth exploring out of personal interest. Rather, some of my colleagues and I believe that it might play an important role in the biological function of dreams, helping to explain why we evolved to dream at all.»
4 Sneaky Ways You Can Use Psychology to Get What You Want From a Conversation
These very small tweaks make you dramatically more persuasive.
What is Refind?
Every day Refind picks 5 links from around the web for every user, tailored to the user’s interests. Picking only a handful of links means focusing on what’s relevant and useful. We favor timeless pieces—links with long shelf-lives, articles that are still relevant one month, one year, or even ten years from now. These lists of the best resources on any topic are the result of years of careful curation.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
- In addition, our users save links from around the web using our Save buttons and our extensions.
- Our algorithm processes 100k+ new links every day and uses external signals to find the most relevant ones, focusing on timeless pieces.
- Our community of active users gets 5 links every day, tailored to their interests. They provide feedback via implicit and explicit signals: open, read, listen, share, add to reading list, save to «Made me smarter», «More/less like this», etc.
- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Can I submit a link?
Indirectly, by using Refind and saving links from outside (e.g., via our extensions).
How can I report a problem?
When you’re logged-in, you can flag any link via the «More» (...) menu. You can also report problems via email to hello@refind.com
Who uses Refind?
200k+ smart people start their day with Refind. To learn something new. To get inspired. To move forward. Our apps have a 4.9/5 rating.
Is Refind free?
Yes, it’s free!
How can I sign up?
Head over to our homepage and sign up by email or with your Twitter or Google account.