“My current research: The diverse set of psychoactive drugs collectively represents a rich set of tools for probing the chemical architecture of the human mind.”

Welcome to the researcher page for Tom Ray, Professor of Zoology and Computer Science at the University of Oklahoma. He created and developed the Tierra Project, a computer simulation of artificial life. His background in Ecology has led to a focus in the study of evolution and genomes, and what happens when you replicate those systems in digital computation. His most recent work focuses on the chemical architecture of the human brain and how that gives rise to personality, intelligence, and the evolution of the mind.

• The human mind is populated by mental organs
• These organs are populations of neurons
• These neurons bear specific neurotransmitter receptors on their surface

These mental organs:

• Provide consciousness and provide that consciousness with meaning, content, and salience.
• Support the facilities of language, logic and reason
• Evolve by duplication and divergence

and thus provide the mechanisms by which evolution sculpts the mind.

Tom Ray on Wikipedia

Tom's Homepage

Tierra Project Homepage