I know what you mean. I want to say I've had both types of dreams, but as you're pointing out, how could I know for sure?
I will say that when I'm having a genuine lucid dream, after I wake up, I know without a doubt it was a lucid dream. With regular dreams, I look back on them and don't exactly identify with my "dream self." That guy didn't realize how absurd the scenario was. He resembles me, but he wasn't me.
With a genuine lucid dream, I look back at the dreamer and can say, "yeah that was 100% me." Also, I find that becoming lucid always sort of pulls the dream into a more realistic scenario. It goes from chaotic and weird to just plain normal life (only, the rules have changed now).
So I guess what leads me to believe that I've had these "pseudo lucid dreams" is that I look back on them after waking and don't identify with the dreamer the same way I do with a genuine lucid dream. It feels more like I was watching someone else, like a recording, than as though it was a real firsthand experience
I wonder how lucid dreaming compares to a phenomenon where (A) we dream that we know we are dreaming and (B) it happens to line up with reality enough that we are convinced we had control.
Maybe philosophically there is no difference. But it would certainly dispel a lot of the folk magic around lucid dreaming.
The way that genuine lucid dreaming differs from those scenarios is that it's been shown empirically that the dreamer is in fact aware that he is asleep and is dreaming.
Check out Stephen LaBerge for more info. They found that while asleep, a person is basically paralyzed with exception to their eye movement. In a lab setting they were able to have the dreamer use a signal, using eye movement, that they were dreaming.
One thing they did was to test the theory that subjective dream time is different than time experience while awake. They did this by doing the eye signal, counting down 10 seconds, and then signalling again. They found that there was no "time dilution" when compared to wakefulness.
I think your are on something and that 'lucid dreaming' may just be a dream after all. And interesting question would be: under an MRI can we detect lucid dreaming? If yer then maybe it's more then just a dream.
I will say that when I'm having a genuine lucid dream, after I wake up, I know without a doubt it was a lucid dream. With regular dreams, I look back on them and don't exactly identify with my "dream self." That guy didn't realize how absurd the scenario was. He resembles me, but he wasn't me.
With a genuine lucid dream, I look back at the dreamer and can say, "yeah that was 100% me." Also, I find that becoming lucid always sort of pulls the dream into a more realistic scenario. It goes from chaotic and weird to just plain normal life (only, the rules have changed now).
So I guess what leads me to believe that I've had these "pseudo lucid dreams" is that I look back on them after waking and don't identify with the dreamer the same way I do with a genuine lucid dream. It feels more like I was watching someone else, like a recording, than as though it was a real firsthand experience