Tuesday, February 10, 2015

41. Dream Logic

Dreams reveal the possible disconnection between an object, and the brain's recognition of that object. A dreamer may see one person, but believes them to be another, regardless of any contrary evidence. "It was you, but it wasn't you" is a common cliche when describing dreams. Careful psychosurgury can reproduce this state during waking life, forcing the ego to perceive what they have been programmed to perceive, even when it is directly contradicted by what they see.

By hijacking the brains reality-testing and cognitive dissonance, an ego can be forced to recognize the world through a pre-programmed filter, one that they will apply to any situation. In its current state of development the procedure cannot be made sustainable within a transhuman mind. Dissonance cannot be entirely eliminated, the ego will try desperately to reconcile its new beliefs with its observations and memories. The more elaborate and nonsensical the imposed filter, the more quickly the effected brain is eroded.

Dream logic is known to have been used by Pax Familae as a method of creating sleeper agents: the subject acts normally except that they believe the Claudias to be their beloved mother, and trust them implicitly. Some experiments have attempted to use Dream Logic for therapy, convincing a subject, for example, that they are safe and back on Earth to counter Fall induced PTSD. Even when the logic is used successfully, however, the inherent stress of the procedure invariably outweighs the benefits.

Mechanics

Dream logic is a psychosurgical procedure. The effects of dream logic are mostly realized through roleplaying, but note that more drastic versions of the procedure cause continuous stress

Timeframe: 1 week
PM: Minor -10; Moderate -20; Major -30
SV: Minor 1 per day, Moderate 1d10/2 per day, Major 1d10 per day

No comments:

Post a Comment