Where the idea came from

The artificial neuron was not invented from scratch. It was borrowed.

On the left: dendrites — branching arms that receive signals from other neurons. In the middle: the soma, the cell body, which adds all those signals up. On the right: the axon, a long cable that carries the output to the next neuron.

The connections between neurons aren't equal. Some pass a strong signal through. Others barely let anything through. That's the biological version of a weight.

Receive. Add. Pass it on.