These examples show that the two strategies proposed by the reconstruction model, do indeed correspond to different developmental strategies that have both been exploited by nature. The model is capable therefore of simulating some important characteristics of development, but perhaps it could do better than that: it could even help us to understand something new about the “logic” of embryonic development.

Biological memories

We have seen that a mathematical model can reconstruct structures from incomplete information only by building “memory matrices” during the process, and this gives us the problem of understanding if something equivalent occurs even during embryonic development. In order to make a parallel between the two cases, we need a definition of “memory” that applies equally well to mathematics and to biology, but this is not a problem. We can say that a memory is “a permanent deposit of information”, because this definition is general enough to apply to all cases. Let us now make a list of the memories that are found in living organisms.
(1) The genome is surely a deposit of information and can be regarded as the genetic memory of a cell.
(2) The determination state of embryonic development represents a cell memory, because it remains in a cell and in its descendants for life, and acts as a deposit of information for all cellular activities.
(3) At the supracellulat level we know that there are deposits of information in the nervous system and in the immune system, and it is precisely because of this that we speak of a nervous memory and of an immunitary memory.
These are the biological memories that we are familiar with, and if it wasn’t for the mathematical model probably we wouldn’t feel any need to look for others.