 The earliest research into thinking machines was inspired by a confluence of ideas that became prevalent in the late 30s , 40s and early 50s . Recent research in <unk> had shown that the brain was an electrical network of neurons that fired in all @-@ or @-@ nothing pulses . Norbert <unk> 's <unk> described control and stability in electrical networks . Claude Shannon 's information theory described digital signals ( i.e. , all @-@ or @-@ nothing signals ) . Alan Turing 's theory of computation showed that any form of computation could be described digitally . The close relationship between these ideas suggested that it might be possible to construct an electronic brain . 
