ABSTRACT
Abstract computing machines were first introduced by the British mathematician Alan Turing in 1936. This chapter aims to distinguish two very different modelling relations between Turing machines and the mind, and that each of these different modelling relations can indeed be extrapolated to the representation of communicative interaction, yielding two quite disparate models of communication. It presents a brief overview of Turing machines and shows how Turing machines can be used to model symbolic processes that are viewed as taking place within the human mind. The chapter explores the second, alternative modelling relation between Turing machines and the cognising human and also argues that this second modelling relation can be extrapolated into a formal model of communication that is constructivist in nature. It shows how the same formal construction can be used in two radically different ways to model a non-formal process.
