Dreaming of Nonsense: The Evolutionary Enigma of Dream Content

it’s relatively easy to see why sleep itself would have conferred evolutionary advantages (avoiding nocturnal predators, recharging our neural batteries and so on), it’s not entirely clear why we don’t simply sleep without dreaming.

Barrett shrugs off the better-known psychoanalytic theories of dreams

highlights the major contemporary, biologically informed theories

stimulate the brain or to keep it “in shape” during prolonged periods of inactivity

replenish neurotransmitters

rest a particular brain area

Steven Pinker writes, “For all we know, dreaming might be a kind of screen saver in which it doesn’t really matter what the content is as long as certain parts of the brain are active.”

allowed our ancestors to simulate problem-solving strategies for genuine, waking life threats

notable figures

insights through dreams