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Professor of Zoology
Adjunct Professor of Computer SciencePhone: (405)325-3526
Fax: (405)325-7813RM/Lab:SH 210
Dr. Ray's Web Page
Current Research Interests and Subject Areas Available for Graduate Research
Bioinformatics: I view the newly created genome databases as a vast unexplored wilderness where many large and small discoveries will be made. I want to explore this data for a variety of reasons. Our genomes contain the footprints of evolution, and they provide a new window on the evolutionary process, especially through comparative genomics. I have begun a study of the origin and evolution of gene families, examining patterns of gene duplication and divergence, and horizontal transfer. I also hope to use genomic data as a new approach to the study of the mind. I am currently learning bioinformatics techniques, and preparing to teach two courses in bioinformatics.
Mind: My objective is to gain an understanding of the architecture of the human mind, through its biological underpinnings. Modern science should be able to construct a new understanding of mental architecture and differentiation based on knowledge of the underlying biology of the brain. We believe that the mind emerges from the brain. It follows that the differentiation of the mind should reflect the differentiation of the brain. The new genome databases provide new opportunities to approach the problem of the human mind. They can provide a complete catalog of chemical communication systems in the brain. They have the potential of providing a comprehensive understanding of the processes of development and differentiation that generate the architecture of the brain. And by comparing human and ape genomes, they can point to the neural structures that make us uniquely human.
Evolutionary Computation: I study the process of evolution outside of the medium of carbon chemistry. The objective is to understand evolution in a broader context, so as to expand our concept of what evolution is, and what forms it can take on. Through self-replicating machine codes, Darwinian evolution by natural selection is inoculated into the medium of digital computation. Evolution explores the possibilities inherent in the medium, and a diverse phylogeny of digital "life-forms" emerges, a computational ecosystem. My long term objective is to use this as a model system for understanding the process whereby evolution generates complexity. Also, biology can be used as the source of new paradigms in computation: biologically inspired computation. Organic evolution has produced information processing systems that are vastly more complex and robust than human engineered computational systems. We hope that we can learn from biology, in developing new kinds of information processing systems for the future.
To learn more about this research, visit Dr. Ray's web page.
B.S. in Biology, Florida State University
B.S. in Chemistry, Florida State University
Supervisor, ATR HIS labs in Japan
Selected publications:
Ray, T. S. 2002. Kurzweil's Turing Fallacy. In: Jay Richards [ed.]. "Are We Spiritual Machines?: Ray Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong AI", with George Gilder, Ray Kurzweil, William Dembski, John Searle, Michael Denton and Thomas Ray. Jay Wesley Richards [ed.]. Viking.
Ray, T. S. 2001. Artificial Life. In: ``Frontiers of Life, Volume One The Origins of Life'', p. 107-124. Renato Dulbecco, David Baltimore, François Jacob, Rita Levi-Montalcini [eds.]. Academic Press.
Ray, T. S. 2001. Aesthetically Evolved Virtual Pets. Leonardo 34(4): 313-316.
Ray, T. S. 1994. Evolution, complexity, entropy, and artificial reality. Physica D 75: 239-263.
Ray, T. S. 1994. An evolutionary approach to synthetic biology: Zen and the art of creating life. Artificial Life 1(1/2): 195-226. Reprinted In : Langton, C. G. [ed.], Artificial Life, an overview. The MIT Press, 1995.
Ray, T. S. 1992. Foraging behaviour in tropical herbaceous climbers (Araceae). Journal of Ecology 80: 189-203.
Ray, T. S. 1991. An approach to the synthesis of life. In : Langton, C., C. Taylor, J. D. Farmer, & S. Rasmussen [eds], Artificial Life II, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, vol. XI, 371-408. Redwood City, CA: Addison-Wesley.
Ray, T. S., and C. C. Andrews. 1980. Antbutterflies: Butterflies that follow army ants to feed on antbird droppings. Science 210: 1147-1148.
- Strong, D. R. and T. S. Ray. 1975. Host tree location behavior of a tropical vine ( Monstera gigantea ) by skototropism. Science, 190: 804-06.
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