# Straight dope on "dreaming about the future"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-on-dreaming-about-the-future/162785>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 20, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-on-dreaming-about-the-future/162785 "2003-03-20T12:06:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-on-dreaming-about-the-future/162785/1 "2003-03-20T12:06:54Z")

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Hiello all,

Have any of you ever dreamed of the future? Came across a moment in life when you took a step back and said to yourself “Hmm…I thought I saw such and such a scene in my dreams before?”

Well, I have that feeling before (doesn’t that I really had dreamt of the future though). But how does that feeling came about?

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**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-on-dreaming-about-the-future/162785/2 "2003-03-20T13:10:26Z")

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The phenomenon you describe is usually called ‘deja vu’ (French for ‘seen before’, ‘already seen’). Very likely Cecil already answered that. I’m too busy right now to do a search. I remember though that the current explanation has to do with your two brainhalves being out of sync.

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**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-on-dreaming-about-the-future/162785/3 "2003-03-20T19:41:29Z")

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Actually a search on the Straight Dope gave me zilch. Any other takers?  
You could of course Google for it.

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-on-dreaming-about-the-future/162785/4 "2003-03-20T19:53:37Z")

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It was discussed recently in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=159375).

Bottom line, there’s absolutely no evidence for it, and lots of evidence that it’s a cognitive artifact, i.e. a side effect of the way our brains process information.

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**Author:** ![Insecta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3da27b/32.png) [@Insecta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Insecta)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-on-dreaming-about-the-future/162785/5 "2003-03-20T20:50:38Z")

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Cecil did do an article on it:

[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_113.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_113.html)

Reason your search probably didn’t turn up anything is because it’s spelt déjà vu (with the accents). Makes it one of the coolest looking words in English (borrowed, of course).

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**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-on-dreaming-about-the-future/162785/6 "2003-03-20T21:09:51Z")

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Good call **Insecta**. I’ve gotten so used to English websites not understanding accents that I’ve stopped bothering anymore. Usually they convert the search or characters anyway. Should have known that uncle Cecil would do it right.