>modern humans are the first species that intentionally deprives itself of sleep for long periods of time.
Is that correct? It feels wrong. Plenty of species will endure all kinds of stresses when it comes to survival.
From the article: >Was Freud right about his theory that dreams are some sort of expression of repressed desires?
This one is easy. No. Dogs dream.
I find it intriguing HN readers don't consider it important, actually.
Understanding dreams (and consciousness) is really tied to understanding the human brain. I would consider that, in general, to be one of the questions of science, not dreaming specifically.
After all, is the phenomenon of dreams that much more interesting than, say, the phenomenon of memories and recollection, or emotional experience, or learning, or anything else brain-related?
You can stimulate memories and recollection, induce emotional experience, and can initiate learning with known ways that work, even if the understanding of how they work isn't fully developed.
Are there known ways to stimulate a dream?