The Mode of Computing
  The Turing Machine is the paradigmatic case of computing machines, but there
are others such as Artificial Neural Networks, quantum computing, holography,
and diverse forms of analogical computing, each based on a particular intuition
of the phenomenon of computing. This variety can be captured in terms of system
levels, re-interpreting and generalizing Newell's hierarchy, which includes the
knowledge level at the top and the symbol level immediately below it. In this
re-interpretation the knowledge level consists of human knowledge and the
symbol level is generalized into a new level that here is called The Mode of
Computing. Natural computing performed by brains of humans and non-human
animals with a developed enough neural system should be understood in terms of
a hierarchy of system levels too. By analogy from standard computing machinery
there must be a system level above the neural circuitry and directly below the
knowledge level that is named here The mode of Natural Computing. A central
question for Cognition is the characterization of this mode. The Mode of
Computing provides a novel perspective on the phenomena of computing,
interpreting, the representational and non-representational views of cognition,
and consciousness.
