Memory as an Organization of Life Before the Appearance of Man

The second article in the series on the evolution and restoration of memory is presented. Memory is not a property of the brain alone. This is a fundamental principle of the organization of life, which arose long before the appearance of neurons. Based on the Non-Information Theory of Life (NJT), the article shows that primary memory is encoded in the phase topology of water – a tetrahedral grid of hydrogen bonds capable of fixing conformational fingerprints of molecules (tetrassignures). These tetrasignatures serve as a physical matrix on which supramolecular condensates arise, triggering autocatalytic cycles – memory condensate cycles. (A detailed description of the physical mechanism is given in our previous work Lagoda, 2026a.) Memory is interpreted as a physical structure – an engram that has a molecular substrate (synaptic changes, epigenetic marks, rearrangement of the extracellular matrix) and is supported by the dynamic coherence of water. A distinction is made between a molecular engram (tetrassignatures and condensate cycles) and a network engram (neural ensembles). Particular attention is paid to the primacy of the molecular apparatus of memory (tetrasignatures and condensates) in the emergence of sense organs: the registration of external changes at the molecular level gave rise to signaling pathways, which in the course of evolution specialized in chemo-, photo- and mechanoreception. The evolutionary path of memory is traced: · The physical memory of water is tetrasignatures and condensate cycles. · Pre-nervous memory is found in bacteria (CRISPR, chemotaxis), plants (epigenetics, transgenerational memory, GABA signaling), and fungi (mycelial networks). · Evolution of the sense organs – from molecular registration of signals to specialized receptors; Vision as a catalyst for the Cambrian explosion. · The appearance of the nervous system – diffuse networks of stingers, ganglia of worms and arthropods. · The formation of the brain is in vertebrates, with the hippocampus and neocortex isolated. · The pinnacle of memory evolution is mammals, with their capacity for episodic memory, sleep consolidation, and social learning. It is shown that all these stages rest on a single physical foundation: ordered (LDL) water, mitochondrial energy, electrotaxis, condensates, and neuron-astrocytic ensembles that guide the assembly and maintenance of memory. The article concludes with practical recommendations for creating a primary form of life in a laboratory bioreactor – not through RNA synthesis, but through the assembly of supramolecular condensates in a controlled phase environment.