A startup specializing in AI has unveiled an ambitious plan to influence your dreams through a lucid dream-inducing headset. Prophetic, the company behind this venture, is confident that its Halo headset will redefine sleep by enabling individuals to initiate and even govern their lucid dreams.
This concept isn’t entirely novel, as marketers have previously toyed with the idea. There were even suggestions of advertisers potentially introducing ads straight into our dreams. Although such plans haven’t materialized, innovations like Prophetic’s Halo could potentially pave the way for such interventions.
Expected to be available in 2025, the Halo headset is said to interact with the brain’s prefrontal cortex – the region recognized for its awareness of lucid dreams.
Designed to identify when wearers enter a dream state, the device supposedly induces lucid dreams through the emission of ultrasound waves. Moreover, the headset claims to solidify ongoing lucid dreams, though Prophetic has yet to reveal the mechanics behind this functionality.
Prophetic has expressed that the Halo remains in its developmental phase, and any significant announcement will only come post a comprehensive yearlong brain imaging study. The company envisions the Halo assisting researchers in seeking answers to profound existential questions.
However, such a device raises multiple reservations. The primary concern revolves around the unknown ramifications of externally inducing lucid dreams. This leads to uncertainties about potential adverse effects or even the device’s efficacy.
Historical studies have often associated lucid dreaming with compromised sleep quality, alongside symptoms like delusion, bewilderment, and even visions. Given this, the active encouragement of such dreams seems questionable, especially considering the thin boundary they create between reality and fiction.
As progress unfolds on this lucid dreaming headset, it’s crucial to bear these concerns in mind. For the time being, our role is to observe how Prophetic advances with the Halo and ascertain whether it can indeed address the deep-seated questions it aims to unravel.
