That was the first thing that came to mind when I read "the smallest brain you can *build*". Nowadays, this would likely be built on a breadboard using op-amps instead.
Going further backwards, the transistor (or a PNP junction) is the hardware level enabler of the IF statement. The action (switching) driven by the current which in turn controls other switches, is the first manifestation of "observe and act" by inanimate things at the speed of electricity.
Mechanical equivalents existed ofcourse - speed of a governer which controls the flow of fuel which in turn controls the speed of the governer.
I played with similar approach in JavaScript and built a NanoNeuron https://github.com/trekhleb/nano-neuron (it is more verbose than Python though)
> In 1958, a researcher named Frank Rosenblatt built a machine *he called* the perceptron.
> It was *inspired* by a single brain cell, a neuron.
and its an a great learning resource - which is arguably more important :-)
If you don't know ML I don't think you're going to learn much through ad hoc demos.
I used to have a wife, but they took her in the divorce!
The human mind isn't very good at correlating its contents[0]. You can "know" something for years without realizing its implications.
The human mind traverses its knowledge like a man with a small flashlight in total darkness. Our beam of attention is small and narrow, so you need to put the right things in it, or the magic doesn't happen.
This has important implications for learning. I don't know what they are though.
Probably something like, "you can know something without knowing what it means." You haven't connected it to the things it's supposed to be connected to yet. I don't know how to fix that though. (Something involving the Feynman technique, maybe?)
[0] H.P. Lovecraft quote - https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/193944-the-most-merciful-th...
EDIT: His son is co-author?
I think those down voting you are perhaps overly eager. I upvoted. Grab "Deep Learning" - you'll find it useful, imteresting, and likely less 'dense' in the negative sense!
> Grab "Deep Learning" - you'll find it useful, imteresting, and likely less 'dense' in the negative sense!
Absolutely! I just ordered it and it's enroute :)