So I watched dreamscape which was about a man who had psychic abilities being pulled into a program where he would enter peoples dreams and interactwith their subconscious.It turns out that the person running the program is a jerk and he wants to use the psychics as assassins.
this brings up the the question of ethics when it comes to the subconscious or events that don't happen in reality. Can a person really be held responsible for what happens in a dream? We view the dream world as something outside the realmsof normality. In a sense if we started punishing people for what happened in dreams we'd be effectively jailing them for their thought processes.
The real crime instead would have to be the use of someones power over consciousness to effect and sway others without their consent.
This comes up when he enters the dreams of the auburn haired scientist without her consent. It's basically dream rape even if she was ok with it afterward.
I think the sketchyness of that situation should have been apparent to everyone. It all feels like an invasion of privacy. The question is whether a crime
on your subconscious is an actual crime? I would think yes because willfully affecting someones else conscious can effect the natural path of their life and how they would have lived it without your interference.
Locke believes that what makes a person is their consciousness and a persons consciousness is all that's present in a dream. It's the real them and the part that matters. In a world were the physical evidence is what makes a case basing judgement on something no corporeal doesn't seem valid. This idea was touched on in Minority Report where Oracles where used to predict crimes before people committed them so that the crime could be stopped before hand. If the crimes hasn't actually been committed is there anything to prosecute? Does the idea of the crime really matter? It's just a dream so no ones really effected right? Going to jail because you were mean to someone in a dream seams ridiculous but maybe because that isn't our reality.
Where are we going to draw the line on effecting someones consciousness? If I tell a dude to kill himself for accosting me on the street would that be seen as and attack on his subconscious? If I did it in his dreams would I still be held responsible?
These are some good questions that aren't necessarily just rhetorical. I think that if the dreams create an impact in the waking world, then the person causing the idea in the dream world might be considered a kind of accessory, however I don't believe they would be directly responsible. If I believed (on a subconscious level where the is idea revealed to me via a dream) that I truly wanted to murder someone, then it is fully within the power of my conscious mind whether or not to go through with it. According to Freud this would be an example of (I hope I'm correct here) my superego keeping my id in place. In other words, I can get bad advice (even from myself) but it is ultimately up to me whether or not I go through with it.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of the subconscious dream state interests me. Dreams are somewhere we are 100% ourselves, not influenced by cultural or societal expectations. We can't really be held responsible for what happens in our dreams. I mean, obviously if we had the ability to mess with someone's subconscious mind, then we would have to answer for our ethical actions. However, now, we don't so what happens in our minds and dreams is just a product of our life experiences. As far as our conscious minds go, we have to have control over our thoughts, so we can also control our actions.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely something worth discussing because I too think it should be considered an invasion of privacy if someone enters your dream without consent. The use of such as a manipulation tactic would have considerable consequences on a person's consciousness and life overall. If someone were to use this to guilt trip an innocent person, this could make them go mad. All of your questions are questions that are asked in Minority Report and I think that movie does an excellent job of raising awareness of where the criminal justice system is going and where it should end.
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