Hello I am new on this forum. I am 40 yrs of age and I have been a Lucid Dreamer since I was in my 20’s.
So my question here is directed to the experienced Elders . 
In lucid dreaming, while I am exploring my world , I will often times try and converse with the people in my dreams. I guess I do this because I was one to explore Astral Projection. Sometimes it seems that even though I am dreaming, that I am really experiencing another dimension.
But when trying to converse with some of the people they act rather strange and give some stupid comment. It is like they are actually just part of the picture or kind of like extras in a movie.
Then there are those that will actually have an intelligent conversation with you.
So what is up with this??
Are these just part of our own psyche, or could they actually be an outside intellegence,another entity??
Really interesting. I would expect some to just act stupid.
Unfortunatly what you are asking hasnt even been tested by any Dream Lab, so… your on your own 
DCs just vary… in my LDs I haven’t had any particularly intelligent conversations with dream characters, but some of the people I meet definitely make far more sense than others.
Not sure what else to say 
Maybe you could look into the shared dreaming or spirit guide topics if you’re interested in learning about these people though. Or you could visit the Lab and make a DC-related experiment.
not quite tru, we are testing the realness of DC in the lab. through this test we have found a few well possible things that may not be just DC. take a lookin the lab u might find it interesting.
I cant answer your question because i dont know, but we are working on it in a round a bout way 
Try this:
If the DC give you dumb responses, and tell him that he better become smarter in the next 10 seconds or hes toast. And ask him if he likes rocket launches… then blow his ass sky high. I mean, … you need to start blowing up more DC’s dream weaver! 
Hey,
It’s nice to see a dreamer of that many years around here. Hey we almost have he same amount of years dreaming.
Well I have found that the stupid ones are just DCs(figments of your imagination). Usualy the smarter ones are something else.Some can be just DCs too.
I go by the way they feel to me. Either they feel empty just kinda like a hologram(DC). Or they put of energy that can easily be felt(others?)
I have a question for you. Do you know when you had your first LD? just curious.
Most of my DC’s are idiots especially in my LD’s. Some even couldn’t speak!
It seems that the dumber people are just as you put it. Extras. They’re only there cos it’s a social setting (a party or a street or summit) and you expect people to be there.
Whereas poepl who are there for a reason other then that have more of a personailty.
Maybe it’s cos your brain can’t simulate to many personalities in a short time?
dumb DC. i have only seen like 3… in years, does that make me strange 
I was in the Navy then. I was experimenting with OBE’s. I had an out of body exp. once when I was about 18 during a time I was doing an LSD trip. After that I wondered if my OBE was real or not .
I was in the library and came across a book called “Journeys Out of the Body” by Robert Monroe. Which let me know it could have been a real experience.
Anyways , along that time In the Navy was working along that line of OBE’s. My best way to achieve the state of conciousness for this was getting myself up around 3 in the morning , relieving the ole bladder,and laying back down . Then trying to clearmy mind and concentrating on floating.
I would feel my body go through a vibration feeling and even hearing a hum . My head when then get the feeling of a “head rush” and I would feel myself floating in and out , like my spirit was having a hard time breaking away .
It was kinda scary at times, I wondered if would actually die or something.
Times I did finally make it out, would be like I fell off the bed to the floor . Then I would get up to get back in bed , and I would see myself already in the bed. I was like …oh wow I’m finally doing it!!
So I would exit through the door, and enter in like another place or feel a rush come over me and it felt like I was traveling at warp speed.
Most of the time when this happened I would see things that looked like stars or lights, and they would clustered in like a hexagonal shapes.
If I stared at one long enough , I would travel to that one at a fast rate again and end up in a strange world.
I learned lateer about lucid dreaming . So I started wondering then if these experiences were real or were they just dreams and I was taking control of them.
I was in control , but yet I wasn’t .
i got into LDing when i first heard about OBEs as well. to me it seemed like a good idea to practice in the safe place of my own head before wandering outside 
anyway, i don’t think i’d mistake any of the DCs i’ve encountered for real people. i would like to meet some real people, spirits, etc, but i don’t think i have yet
my DCs are very… odd. they’re either unresponsive or too responsive to the point i’m like “okay okay, sorry i asked” which i guess is pretty much how i am now that i think about it 
edit: actually i take that back, i just remembered a ND i had that stood out in my mind where a kung fu master was teaching me monkey boxing i think it was along with some chi techniques. i do martial arts in WL but not kung fu, that dream was so weird and i wondered if that kung fu master was an actual person, spirit, etc or a very convincing DC
it depends on who you ask. some people say that LD = OBE if you ask me i’d say they are related but different and it’s possible to cross over between the two of them and etc etc
anyway, i have a question for you, what does somebody whose been LDing for 20 years do with their LDs ???
Well I haven’t actually had LD’s for 20 years, but I have experienced them for around 20 years of my life.
Sometimes I go months not having one. I dream but somehow do not realise I am in the dream state.
Then sometimes I do… I will be talking to someone while not being lucid, and looking at there face .Then all of a sudden ,as I am staring, their face starts altering. I then think to myself, I am dreaming .
My routine is, when I feel I am dreaming, is to do a reality check.
I will come to a door or a window and push my hand through it . If my hand goes through ( which when I do this , I can feel the fibers of the material my hand is going through) then I realise I am dreaming , and it is safe for me to say ,jump from the window and fly.
I still go to places , and wonder if I am in another dimension or something. One LD I had about 6 or 7 yrs back . I actually felt the people I was around were people I knew . However when I woke up , I had know Idea who they were.
Here is a part I remember :
I was at a big round table, and there was all these people sitting with me . I would estimate 10 to 12 people at the table. I felt that I was the center of attention, cause they were waiting for me to speak. But as I looked around I recognised these people and for that little bit of time some kind of memory was coming to me.
I said " I know you , dont I ?" Then they all looked to this woman at the end of the table. Then I looked at her and she said ," why yes you do."
I then said " I know I am in my bed, but I am awake here. I dont know how long I will last cause I feel I am drifting back."
The lady said " Thats alright , you will learn."
I kept looking at her , and I said “I do know you, but from where?”
She then stood up and came to me , and I stood and embraced her, then tears were pouring out of my eyes. It was a very emotional moment . So emotional , I ended up waking and my physical eyes were soaked with tears.
I sat back and thought about it , and wondered …who were these people . I know longer recognised them.
I have many experiences like that . I have many questions.
I tried to share them with others , but they just look at me like I am ready for the men in the white jackets (LOL).
Thank God for the internet. Where I can find people just as screwed up as me . 
I meet people in my dreams ive never ever met before. And, I go to places ive never ever been to before.
For example, in one dream I was at some party in some house ive never been to before and I had no idea who the heck these people were. My opinion is, is simply that im very creative hehe.
What… some people think lucid dreams are OBE’s? Is there a website on this hehe?
I don’y know if you want me to answer this but I have been lding for 18 years now.
I find myself using my dreams to fight away fears and better realize who I am. I’m currently trying to SD and have some good results.
DreamWeaver I have that same book but haven’t fully read it yet.
Some think that such people could be people you knew in past lifes.
I have had these to and are really strange to think about.
I have had dreams where I was in medevial times ( not the dinner theater LOL) I was not really lucid . I remember this one I was walking in to this huge mansion, I was suppose to be meeting somebody. I was wearing armour and as I walked in the hallway I looked toward a mirror on the wall to check my appearance . The mirror wasnt glass it was a very polished metal . The reflection of myself was someone that resembled me , but it wasn't me.
I am not really a believer in reincarnation though . However think about this ?
Maybe our experiences of past lives could actually be memories passed on through our DNA somehow. This person I saw in the reflection could have been a distant relative.
I do however have a belief that we all lived in a time on this Earth before this dispensation in time.
But that’s a whole different thing, I would have to bring Biblical references to this. Since this is not a biblical forum I wont go into it.
thx for both your responses dreamweaver and dreamwalker… it’s good to know that after 20 years, there’s still something to explore, not the “been there, done that” 
dreamwalker, have you had any success with shared dreaming… if so, what’d you and the other person do ???
dreamweaver, why do you think the passing memories through DNA is more palatable than reincarnation ???
Reincarnation is just something I choose not to believe in mainly from my biblical beliefs. There was a time I really considered the possibilities.
Then one day while meditating, the possibility that visions of past experiences could be associated with genetics. Hereditary genes get passed through from umbilical cord through umbilical cord. We not only look like our relatives, but some you will take on other character traits like sounding alike and walking alike, same habits. Even diseases can be passed on genetically.
So why not memories.
There are creatures on the Earth that from the tme they are born already know how to survive based on instincts. Those instincts are apparently memory that has been recorded in their DNA.
I hope you get my point. Its just a theory. Nothing more .
DreamWeaver you bring up a good point. It could be a relatives memories past on. I heard that when we are born we have so many years of knowledge to use. Really makes me think. I’ll b thinking about this for a long time now.
And SD is shared dreaming also called mutual dreaming. It is were two or more people meet up in there dreams. Well thats a lesser explanation.
Oneiromancer I did have some results that showed We did it but not good enough in my eyes. We did break into each others dream but only for like a second or so. Somehow I once broke into there dream that they had long ago. We’ll get it though. It’s only a matter of time.
I believe the same (i.e. I don’t believe in reincarnation). Indeed besides the genetic theory of yours (which could be correct, and perhaps in some cases it is) the so called ‘past memories’ could be sourced from evil influences (i.e.evil spirits) or the mind itself could be making them up. The mind is good at making up stories, so this would not be out of the unknown… We read some stuff when we are younger, we don’t remember doing so since years have passed, then our subconscious creates an interesting history…
interesting views…
here’s my take on reincarnation… our personal experience of the universe is the microcosm for how the macrocosm operates. and in this microcosm i see a lotta natural things happening in cycles.
take the water cycle for instance, it rains, it evaporates, it’s drunk by animals and urinated out, it turns back to rain again, the animal dies and the water in its cells returns to the earth again, it’s recycled again and starts anew
i would think the essence that drives us works in very much the same way
=> dreamwalker, cool, good luck w/ your SD efforts. i think i’d like to try that myself when i get around to it… so many things to do