How to teach a computer? You can either write a fixed program – or you can enable the computer to learn on its own. Living beings do not have any programmer writing a program for developing their skills, which then only has to be executed. They learn by themselves – without the previous knowledge from external impressions – and thus can solve problems better than any computer today. What qualities are needed to achieve such a behavior for devices like computers? Can such cognition be adapted from biology? History, development, decline and resurgence of a wide approach to solve problems.

Originally, this work has been prepared in the framework of a seminar of the University of Bonn in Germany, but it has been and will be extended. First and foremost, to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject of neural networks.

Zeta2 edition. Also available in German.