Sleep and Dreams as Reflected by Science Fiction Literature and Films—Anything to Learn From?

IF 3.9 3区医学 Q2 CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

Journal of Sleep Research Pub Date : 2025-08-21 DOI:10.1111/jsr.70183

Dieter Riemann, Christoph Nissen, Pierre A. Geoffroy, Bernd Feige, Jason Ellis

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Sleep and dreams are frequent themes in science fiction (Sci-Fi) literature and films, often used to explore questions about consciousness, reality, technology and the human experience. Sci-Fi authors and filmmakers utilise the enigmatic nature of sleep and dreams to blur the boundaries between reality and imagination, raising philosophical questions or extrapolating the effects of futuristic technologies on human life. In this article, we want to highlight some areas that have been recurring themes relating to sleep and dreams in Sci-Fi. These will include the concepts of so-called hypno-paedagogics, space hibernation, brain machine interfaces, electrostimulation, genetic engineering and the impact of substances (viruses, bacteria, drugs, toxins) on sleep and dreams. We will then confront Sci-Fi concepts with what is known from contemporary sleep science and judge what might be feasible, or not, in the future. A question we also want to address is how the relationship between sleep science and sleep Sci-Fi can be conceptualised: whether novel concepts have been instigated by Sci-Fi and taken up by sleep science or whether Sci-Fi merely reflects state of the art topics of sleep science, with just adding a touch of fiction.

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科幻文学和电影反映的睡眠和梦——有什么值得借鉴的吗？

睡眠和梦是科幻文学和电影中经常出现的主题，经常被用来探索关于意识、现实、技术和人类经验的问题。科幻作家和电影制作人利用睡眠和梦的神秘本质模糊了现实与想象之间的界限，提出了哲学问题，或推断未来科技对人类生活的影响。在这篇文章中，我们想强调一些在科幻小说中反复出现的关于睡眠和梦的主题。这些将包括所谓的催眠-幼儿学、太空冬眠、脑机接口、电刺激、基因工程以及物质（病毒、细菌、药物、毒素）对睡眠和梦的影响。然后，我们将把科幻概念与当代睡眠科学的知识进行比较，并判断未来哪些是可行的，哪些是不可行的。我们还想解决的一个问题是，睡眠科学和睡眠科幻之间的关系是如何概念化的：新颖的概念是由科幻小说激发出来的，还是由睡眠科学吸收的，还是科幻小说仅仅反映了睡眠科学的最新主题，只是添加了一点虚构的元素。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Sleep Research 医学-临床神经学

CiteScore

9.00

自引率

6.80%

发文量

234

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Sleep Research is dedicated to basic and clinical sleep research. The Journal publishes original research papers and invited reviews in all areas of sleep research (including biological rhythms). The Journal aims to promote the exchange of ideas between basic and clinical sleep researchers coming from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines. The Journal will achieve this by publishing papers which use multidisciplinary and novel approaches to answer important questions about sleep, as well as its disorders and the treatment thereof.