The Organic Codes

An Introduction to Semantic Biology

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by Marcello Barbieri

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published March 2003, 314 pages, paper

ISBN 0521531004

Asserting that there are many more organic codes in nature than just the genetic code, Marcello Barbieri states that the existence of these codes and their corresponding organic memories can be used to explain the key steps in the evolutionary history of life. With major events corresponding to the appearance of new codes, the organic codes and their corresponding organic memories can also shed new light on the problems of epigenesis and how embryos generate their own complexity.

Contents

Foreword Michael Ghiselin; Dedication; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The microscope and the cell; 2. Theories of evolution; 3. A new model for biology; 4. Organic codes and organic memories; 5. The origin of life; 6. Prokaryotes and eukaryotes; 7. The Cambrian explosion; 8. Semantic biology; 9. A brief summary; Appendix I. Definitions of life; Afterword Jack Cohen; Bibliography; Index.