What If Humans Could Choose Their Dreams Every Night?
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Marhaban everyone! my name is Bilel and I'm from Tunisia . I have a bachelor's degree in English (International Relations). I have worked as a translator, International Business Developer and a director in a teaching center. After COVID, I started my carrier as a part-time English teacher in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia. I'm an ambitious person, and never give up my dream of working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia, and why not be an ambassador someday!?
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1-minute overview
Choosing dreams every night sounds like a private freedom: people could explore impossible places, rehearse difficult conversations, revisit memories, or simply enjoy adventure. It also resembles lucid dreaming, in which a sleeper becomes aware of dreaming and may sometimes influence the dream. Yet complete, reliable dream selection remains hypothetical. Research on deliberate lucid-dream induction is still developing, and attempts that interrupt sleep may not suit everyone.
The ethical questions become more interesting if dream choice is effortless and widely available. Would people have a responsibility to avoid violent, addictive, or emotionally harmful dream experiences? Could employers, families, insurers, or governments ever pressure people to use dreams for training, therapy, or productivity? Culture may shape these answers: some communities may treat dreams as intensely personal, while others may see them as connected to family, spirituality, or social duties. A fair approach might protect personal autonomy while setting strong limits on coercion, data collection, and technologies that damage sleep or blur the boundary between fantasy and waking life.
The ethical questions become more interesting if dream choice is effortless and widely available. Would people have a responsibility to avoid violent, addictive, or emotionally harmful dream experiences? Could employers, families, insurers, or governments ever pressure people to use dreams for training, therapy, or productivity? Culture may shape these answers: some communities may treat dreams as intensely personal, while others may see them as connected to family, spirituality, or social duties. A fair approach might protect personal autonomy while setting strong limits on coercion, data collection, and technologies that damage sleep or blur the boundary between fantasy and waking life.
Useful vocabulary
Approx. CEFR · Topic relevance
lucid dreaming
Dreaming while knowing that you are asleep and dreaming, sometimes with partial control over events.
Lucid dreaming might make dream choice feel less like science fiction, but control is not always complete.
autonomy
The ability and right to make decisions about one’s own life without improper control by others.
Personal autonomy suggests that adults should usually decide for themselves what to dream about.
coercion
Pressure or threats that make someone do something against their genuine wishes.
A workplace dream programme would be unacceptable if participation involved coercion.
sleep architecture
The pattern and sequence of stages that make up a normal period of sleep.
Any dream-selection technology should be judged by its effect on sleep architecture, not only by its entertainment value.
emotional processing
The mental work of experiencing, interpreting, and responding to feelings and difficult events.
Some people may worry that choosing only pleasant dreams could interfere with emotional processing.
reality–fantasy boundary
The psychological distinction a person maintains between imagined experiences and real life.
For vulnerable users, an intense dream life could make the reality–fantasy boundary harder to manage.
Useful expressions
The key distinction is between … and …
Use this to separate two ideas that may seem similar but have different ethical consequences.
The key distinction is between choosing a dream voluntarily and being expected to choose one.
That benefit may come at the expense of …
Use this to identify a possible trade-off.
That benefit may come at the expense of natural sleep and emotional recovery.
We should be careful not to assume that …
Use this to challenge an untested belief.
We should be careful not to assume that more control always produces better well-being.
A reasonable safeguard would be …
Use this to propose a practical protective rule.
A reasonable safeguard would be a ban on employers accessing dream records.
The strongest case for this view depends on whether …
Use this to state the condition that makes an argument persuasive.
The strongest case for this view depends on whether dream choice can occur without disrupting sleep.
Sources & further reading
Question list
- Ice breaking
- Main topic
- Free talk
| Q1. | What would you do if you woke up one day and everyone had disappeared except for you? |
|---|---|
| Q2. | Do you enjoy being busy or having free time? |
| Q3. | If you could bring back a trend from your childhood, which one should return? |
| Q4. | If you could instantly learn any language, which one would it be? |
| Q5. | If you had to choose between emotional pain or physical pain, which one would you choose? |
| Q6. | What kind of food do you have a weakness for? |
| Q7. | When was the last time you slept well? |
| Q8. | Is intelligence or wisdom more useful? |
| Q1. | If you could design tonight’s dream, what experience would you choose? |
|---|---|
| Q2. | Would you repeat a perfect dream or always create something new? |
| Q3. | How could chosen dreams help people learn, practice, or solve problems? |
| Q4. | Would controlling dreams help people feel better, or create new worries? |
| Q5. | Could people become more interested in dreams than in real life? |
| Q6. | Would dreams lose their meaning if they never surprised us? |
| Q7. | Should parents be able to control the dreams their children experience? |
| Q8. | How might choosing every dream change your mood during the day? |
| Q1. | What role do you think schools should play in teaching students about personal finance and financial literacy? |
|---|---|
| Q2. | Have you ever been camping or hiking? |
| Q3. | How do you remain hopeful during uncertain times? |
| Q4. | Who is the most overrated person in history? |
| Q5. | Do you think healthcare should be universally accessible? Why? |
| Q6. | When was the last time you fought with someone? |
| Q7. | Have you ever learned something unexpected from a child? |
| Q8. | What makes vulnerability powerful for you? |
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