Ra Mour A
- Research Program Mentor
MEng candidate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Expertise
Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Physics, Neuroscience
Bio
Hello friend! I was born in the US and grew up in the vibrant city of Medellin, Colombia. I began studying electrical engineering after returning to the US in 2017, but my urge to understand brains, minds, and machines led me to MIT in 2019. Since then I've done formal research on human planning/decision-making (what should I do?) and foveation in embodied perceptual systems (how do I see?). However, I spend most of my time looking for links between many realms of abstraction—from the fundamental nature of mathematical and physical realities, to the neuropsychological machinery we use to consider these realities, to the philosophical principles that guide our thinking. I'm committed to learning how to tell beautiful and compelling stories about these realms through both verbal (written and spoken language) and artistic (e.g. film and music) mediums. I deeply enjoy investigating the ideas above through literary and audiovisual media, meaningful conversations, and meditation practice. Watch the episode Zima Blue of "Love, Death & Robots" on Netflix for a beautiful representation of many of the things I value most! I'm obsessed with mangos, spicy food, and the number 42. In addition to reading, watching movies, and listening to podcasts, for active leisure I run, train martial arts, practice the guitar, and learn french.Project ideas
Virtual Reality for Real Wellbeing
Even if you do not personally suffer from chronic pain or a mental illness, there is likely at least one person you care about who does. This issue has only been exacerbated by the global pandemic, which has forced us all into seclusion and reduced access to coping therapies and medical support. Let's work on a virtual haven that provides users with personalized treatments and activities to deal with physical or mental pain, regardless of their location in space!
Dreams, Distilled
What role, if any, do dreams play in our lives? Does the dream itself (the narrative of a dream, as opposed to the neural processes that produce it) perform some function, or is it merely an epiphenomenon? In any case, would it be useful for a computer to dream? Great minds like Salvador Dali and Sigmund Freud found inspiration or explanation for their work in the elusive clouds of dreams. Nevertheless, we still lack methods to perform studies that can help us understand the dream content beyond retrospective accounts. This project has the potential to go in many directions depending on your interest: perhaps a review of how dreams (and our interpretations of them) have evolved along with the development of society, or a proposal for novel tools and methods that could help us advance the science of dreams.