Marcello Barbieri sets out his theory that there are many more organic codes in nature than the genetic code. The existence of these codes can be used to explain the major steps in the evolutionary history of life, and processes like epigenesis and complexity generation in embryos.

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.