Another perspective is that we're like an ML model that takes tons of raw data and extract features from it, and infer stuff like "x is alive" and "y is dying".

Another perspective is that we're like an ML model that takes tons of raw data and extract features from it, and infer stuff like "x is alive" and "y is dying". We insist that the features we extracted are the real thing, instead of a summarization that enables us to understand the world.