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There was an attitude at a University about 20 years ago when I was an undergrad, around, hmm, stochastic learning algorithms. And the attitude was, "we don't care why or how it works - we want to make the outcome happen".

I found it intellectually reprehensible then, and now.

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> "we don't care why or how it works - we want to make the outcome happen".

That's the primary difference between science and engineering.

In science, understating how it works is critical, and doing something with that understanding is optional. In engineering getting the desired outcome is critical, and understanding why it works is optional.

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