According to
Douglas Hofstader's book,
Gödel,
Escher,
Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, m-mode is
one of the
three modes
of human action ( the other two being
i-mode and
u-mode ).
A person is working in "machine mode" when actions are based on
methodical, formulaic procedure.
For example, the act of trying to determine someone's E2 password by
trying every possible combination, in order, would be acting in m-mode.