He was right: For the progress he is seeking now, neural networks stand to play at most a peripheral role. Instead, he needs some new and quite different ideas

He was right: For the progress he is seeking now, neural networks stand to play at most a peripheral role. Instead, he needs some new and quite different ideas. That the networks are neural might mean that they could simulate a worm; that he got more out of them, as, say, non-linear fitting functions, is cute but not much progress for the next challenges he has in mind.