Name/Title
1949/03- Radio-Electronics, "The Electronic Brain"Tags
Radio-ElectronicsDescription
The March 1949 issue of “Radio-Electronics” featured an article titled “The Electronic Brain” by W.R. Ashby, M.A., M.D. This article is considered a significant piece in the history of artificial intelligence. Ashby discussed the advances in electronics of that time and their application to the development of an artificial intelligence. He highlighted the potential of the vacuum tube for action-result feedback, which was a novel concept.
Ashby used the Homeostat as an example to illustrate his points. The Homeostat was a device that demonstrated negative feedback learning, showing how electronic computers could “learn” from their actions. He theorized about the Homeostat’s approach to playing chess, suggesting that it would start by making random movements but, through feedback, would learn to avoid illegal moves and strategies leading to rapid loss.
The article contrasted other computers like the ENIAC, which operated on a fixed set of instructions without any feedback mechanism, thus lacking the ability to learn or improve. Ashby’s insights were quite forward-thinking for the time, as he correctly predicted the importance of feedback systems in computing, which are fundamental to AI development
