How do we know that current artificial neural networks aren’t the local maximum of modelling, and there isn’t a better model (biologically inspired or otherwise) that we haven’t explored yet?
We need both to work on improving what we have that works, and to explore other avenues and inspirations (both to try entirely new things, and to improve the things we already have working in new ways). I don’t think it wise to throw out what we have working to try again with something biologically inspired, but I also don’t think it wise to say ok we’ve learned enough from biology, let’s focus purely on what we have now, when we don’t understand so much about biological brains, intelligence, and consciousness.
I think we should imitate biology for the sake of imitating biology, though. Alongside other approaches.
Right now, we know that biology works, because of animal and human intelligence. We don’t yet know if our other approaches have the ability to eventually lead to that.
