Dreams as the Workshop of Evolution with co-Dreaming Founders Kyle Napierkowski and Emily Cook, PhD

People’s dreams change before their behavior does. Our guests, Codreaming founders Emily Cook and Kyle Napierkowski share evidence from their research including how large databases show that dreams about Donald Trump shifted long before his favorability ratings did. They also talk about how dreams reveal that the concerns of people in their 20s and 30s are foundationally different from older people and the evidence that this is not merely because of their age, but because of generationally changing priorities.

After the break, we take a call from Lee from New York who talks about his 50 years of dream records, and we get into a conversation about demographics and the ethics of dream collection.

BIOS: As an Organizational Psychologist, Emily Cook pioneers integrating psychological science and dream analysis into business strategy. Her research is published in leading academic journals, and her work has been featured in The Independent, Financial Times, and Fox News. Kyle Napierkowski is a leader in ad-tech, AI, and data science, and has created data-driven impact for startups like PagerDuty and for large enterprises like Coca Cola and American Express. He develops methodologies for using dream data to harness creativity and identify consumer trends. He holds degrees in Management and certifications in psychological and coaching modalities.

Find our guests at: CoDreaming.org

This show, episode number 304, was recorded during a live broadcast on March 29, 2025 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz.

Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick for also engineering the show and to Tony Russomano for the answering the phones.

The Santa Cruz Festival of Dreams is coming October 10-12, 2025! Mark your calendars now. Check our landing page at FestivalofDream.net and FB group page HERE or follow #keepSantaCruzDreaming on FB and IG.

SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question or enquire about being a guest on the podcast by emailing Katherine Bell at katherine@ksqd.org. Follow on FB, IG, LI, & YT @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com.

The Dream Journal aims to: Increase awareness of and appreciation for nightly dreams. Inspire dream sharing and other kinds of dream exploration as a way of adding depth and meaningfulness to lives and relationships. Improve society by the increased empathy, emotional balance, and sense of wonder which dream exploration invites.

A dream can be meaningful even if you don’t know what it means.

The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM. Catch it streaming LIVE at KSQD.org 10-11am Pacific Time on Saturdays. Call or text with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or email at onair@ksqd.org. Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms the Monday following the live show. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal/.

Closed captioning is available on the