In Machine Learning terms, current neural network techniques are a local minima. Capsule networks might not perform as well now, but may offer a way forward whi

In Machine Learning terms, current neural network techniques are a local minima. Capsule networks might not perform as well now, but may offer a way forward which will outperform them in the long term as they're developed and refined. Being able to match MNIST results, rather than do worse, is a good reason to work on them.