1. An apparatus for processing mixed data for a selected task, comprising: a data collection agent comprising logic encoded in a computer-readable medium that when executed is operable to collect mixed data implemented in a plurality of encoding schemes, the mixed data collected from a plurality of data sources wherein the plurality of data sources comprises at least two unique data sources comprising at least two unique encodings; a neural network comprising logic encoded in a computer-readable medium that when executed is operable to implement an input transformation module, the input transformation module adapted to: determine a complexity associated with the mixed data, the complexity based on a number of dimensions associated with the encoded data and a desired functional output for the selected task; upon determining the complexity is below a first threshold, transform the encoding into a first numerical encoding based on a pattern in the encoding; upon determining the complexity is above the first threshold: determine a distance metric for determining a distance between any two data points within a particular dimension of the encoding; scale at one distance of at least one dimension; cluster the mixed data based on the determined distance metric; transform the encoding into a second numerical encoding using a signpost transformation that dynamically adjusts a level of detail based on the desired functional output for the selected task; a functional link network comprising logic encoded in a computer readable medium that when executed is operable to process the transformed encoding to provide the functional output for the selected task; and a memory module operable to store the functional output.