These two cultures played out very early in neural networks, see Rumelhart and McClelland, for example [1]. For the language nativists like Chomsky the engineer

These two cultures played out very early in neural networks, see Rumelhart and McClelland, for example [1]. For the language nativists like Chomsky the engineering will never appreciate all of the intricacies of language learning and uses. It’s a fair criticism that both forces the engineering to be better and misses the point. Engineering doesn’t need to replicate how the natural phenomenon “works” in order to provide a compelling set of uses for humanity. Choose a modality of sensing the world - vision, hearing, language, etc. If the engineering replicates and even improves upon the natural basis, we can continue to focus on improving the engineered solution. Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration but why be bound to its instantiation? The brain doesn’t record memories verbatim. Recording devices are better for that reason. [1] https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262680530/parallel-distributed-processing/ https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262680530/parallel-distributed-...