Thanks for this thoughtful comment. It would be dumb to say that it's not worth it to pursue ML research and apply it to engineering problems to improve well-e

Thanks for this thoughtful comment. It would be dumb to say that it's not worth it to pursue ML research and apply it to engineering problems to improve well-established solutions. What bothers me the most however and is the reason I was tongue-in-chick in my first comment was the insane overrepresentation machine learning receives in virtually every interaction related to tech, considering its success to non-physical problems. I get that hypes come and go and will continue so, but it's another thing having a trend spreading out in almost every scientific discipline advertising it as a discovery by big brain computer people that have come to salvage their poor inferiors (that its ardent proponents have zero experience in engineering design is another story). You may think this is hyperbole but it's really a common sentiment among ML skeptics. And it's especially frustrating when it's presented as a subtitute, and not as a supplement, to well established mathematical ways, e.g. machine learning vs control theory in AVs as you've said. On the other hand, although SV startup culture is definitely to blame for all this to an extent, I can definitely understand some subfields being way too conservative to trendier topics just for the sake of not blending in with the hype. There have been some decent attempts lately to bridge the numerous chasms each discipline has and get the best out of each world. Hopefully something useful comes out of it.