Your point is also good. "Shallow engineering" will not give us deep theoretical understanding, and we need also deep theoretical understanding. But in our need

Your point is also good. "Shallow engineering" will not give us deep theoretical understanding, and we need also deep theoretical understanding. But in our need for deep theory, we should not accept just any theory. The theory should be testable, and it should eventually yield some practical applications. Theoretical thinking can get quite lost if it's not guided by at least some connection to empirical data. Early L. Ron Hubbard presented a theory (Dianetics) on the causes of mental illness. It's a theory alright, just not a very good one, and not very testable. We would still benefit from a better theoretical understanding of human mental health and illness, but we should not take just anybody, just because he is a deep thinker and has a theory.