# Analog Computation **Domain:** Computer Science / Physics / Computational Neuroscience **Doc Type:** Technical Concept Node **Maturity:** Established generally; proposed in the article's neural-wave mechanism **Related:** [[Traveling Waves]], [[Spatiotemporal Computing]], [[Neuromorphic Computing]], [[Nonlinear Dynamics]] --- ## Definition **Analog computation** performs transformations through continuously varying physical quantities rather than exclusively through discrete symbolic states. Voltage, phase, frequency, amplitude, geometry, and interference can therefore participate directly in computation. ## Neural-Wave Context In [[articles/Analog Cognition and the Architecture of Continuity|Analog Cognition and the Architecture of Continuity]], the existence of traveling cortical waves is established, while the stronger claim that their interference performs analog computation is identified as a theory awaiting direct experimental signatures. The distinction between observed wave dynamics and the proposed computational role must remain explicit. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > "I suspect that digital computers, too, may eventually start to think, but only by growing up to become analog computers, first." > **— George Dyson**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Digital Computers May Need to Become Analog to Think by George Dyson|Digital Computers May Need to Become Analog to Think by George Dyson]] ## Sources / Provenance - Earl K. Miller, Scott L. Brincat, and Jefferson E. Roy, [Analog Cognition and Consciousness](https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0711-26.2026), _The Journal of Neuroscience_ (2026) - Picower Institute, [Cognition and consciousness arise from analog computations, says new theory](https://picower.mit.edu/news/cognition-and-consciousness-arise-analog-computations-says-new-theory)