I never said dreaming was unshackled creativity. It has at least one inescapable limit - the highly-connected blob of meat in charge of the whole mess.

Or in the words of Humph, "The teams can say any word they want, limited only by their own imaginations.
... It's stiff, that rule."

Isn't "meatbrain", as implied by your metaphor, something of an oxymoron?

Brains can be made out of meat! [Archive link to www.terrybisson.com]

Agreed that dreams are mostly mashups of one's past life (at least mine are, and it can be confusing to be in 3 countries at once). "An infinite capacity for taking pains" is a lousy definition of genius - that's just control freakery. Much better is "the ability to make connections where none were seen before". Whether those connections are made awake, asleep, or somewhere between really doesn't matter. That begets creativity.

(Pablo) Your second definition is by far the better. And of course these connections are made in effect instantaneously. There just has to be some loose software flopping about in there. Use it well.

I would suggest "the ability to make fruitful connections where none were seen before"

I don't think that I have any real life experience of anyone inserting an inboard marine engine into a golden retriever's arse and setting it off around the dock in a wide loop, saying "Watch this bugger go!"
My dreams baffle me.

(Phil) Got just about enough energy to ROFLMAO.

[Phil] Yeah, that is unusual. Only about 8% of people have that dream.

This place is dead, or at best dormant.

[Rosie] I guess the pandemic disrupted the regular supply of banter and the import of witty discourse into the UK is being held up due to the extra paperwork required post-Brexit.

(Boolbar) But we have no need to import banter - we already have a unique top-class product that, given some loose translation, would sell like hot cakes throughout Europe. Alas, we are governed by cretins and the newly-erected barriers and associated bureaucracy make it just too much hassle. What a silly country we are.