Being a mathematician who's dabbled in neuroscience a bit, I think that's essentially right (though perhaps I wouldn't have said "laughable"). But I also think

Being a mathematician who's dabbled in neuroscience a bit, I think that's essentially right (though perhaps I wouldn't have said "laughable"). But I also think this reflects the differences between how science and engineering progress -- our ability to exploit a natural phenomenon (or class of phenomena) often outstrips our ability to explain what's going on. As examples, I'd argue that for much of aviation history (and perhaps now too, I don't know), our ability to build flying machines far outstrips our understanding of how birds and insects (or even planes) fly.