Can We Dream the Future?

The Unpredictable Myth of Us

The stories we tell ourselves merge into a collective mythology, shaping our culture, our society, and ultimately our reality. Joseph Campbell once remarked that "you can’t predict a myth any more than you can predict a dream," and to that, I say, challenge accepted! As a machine learning engineer, I want to believe there’s a path to finding those patterns, a way to see the shape of the dream before we fall asleep.

Our Trend-Spotting Obsession

Marketers—oh, they’re always on the hunt. They want to predict trends, pin down the next big thing, and figure out the future before it arrives. But what if you could go beyond trends and actually predict the mythology? That’s where the real commercial value would be. Imagine being able to forecast the next archetype, the next epic journey humanity clings to, the story that will steer us all. That’s the holy grail of prediction, isn’t it?

Dreams: The Brain’s Sandbox

What if we could predict our dreams? As a machine learnist, this idea fascinates me. What’s the value in being able to predict what you’ll dream about tonight? Well, I think there’s something profound there. Dreams might just be our brain’s way of reinforcing neural pathways based on survival instincts, a nightly sandbox where we test out scenarios from our day—puzzling interactions, looming fears, unanswered questions. It’s trial and error for the 'soul.' While we sleep, we’re not just dreaming; we’re self-learning, recording, and reinforcing. And that’s where it gets really interesting because our memories aren’t even real memories, they’re just weighted perceptions, just like how AI stores information. We’re always approximating, living stories that aren’t fixed facts, but fluid reflections.

Betting on Campbell’s Challenge

So what if someone took Campbell up on his challenge? What if they actually tried to predict dreams based on our waking lives, the way machine learning sifts through mountains of data to find the hidden thread? And further still, what if someone took all the social data of today—tweets, conversations, news cycles, viral videos—and started predicting the mythology we’ll tell ourselves in the future? There’s something tantalizing about that. It’s not just worth someone’s time; it’s a potential goldmine of insight.

The Stories We Need Now

And then the real question emerges: if someone built this mythology predictor, what would it say about where we’re headed? If I look around now, I see religion being torn down but not replaced with anything. I see the looming shadow of a new space race, the creeping dread of climate change, and the endless anxiety of AI taking our way of life. We’re juggling the threat of nuclear disaster, dictators wielding their arsenals with reckless abandon, and we’re still choking on our own smoke. What story will guide us through this mess? What’s the myth that stops us from annihilating ourselves? We need a story, a belief, a shared dream that picks up this bag of sand without breaking our backs.

Whatever comes next, it better be damn good.