Here is one of the fundamental papers on implementing associative memory (the analog parallel to content-addressable digital memory):
"Hyperdimensional Computing: An Introduction to Computing in Distributed Representation with High-Dimensional Random Vectors", Pentti Kanerva, Cogn Comput (2009) 1:139159, DOI 10.1007/s12559-009-9009-8
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The part titled "What is the Dollar of Mexico?" on page 154 is what convinced me that Kanerva was on to something - he had explained how analogy works as a direct consequence of vector math over hyperdimensional spaces.
Reference [4] from 1988 is the founding article.
This is one reason I did not believe Penrose on Quantum Consciousness.
Kanerva presents Hypervectors:
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Joe Gwinn