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Preprinted! Been working on this for ~1 year w wonderful coauthors Nancy & Mark: > Understanding Artificial Neural Networks: Mysterianism about Known Mechanism is Mysticism doi.org/10.5281/zeno... Have you noticed many experts say they don't understand AI? What's going on? 🤯 Let us tell you... 1/

Here are some flagrant examples, although the appendix is full of them of them too — basically experts and journalists alike seem to repeat this mantra that we do not understand how contemporary AI works. See appendix at the end here for more: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 2/

This hangs with the other statements in fig 1: 1️⃣ ANNs (artificial neural networks) are inspired by human organism 2️⃣ ANNs are a black box we don't understand 3️⃣ We understand neither ANNs nor cognition therefore they are similar All 3 are misplaced! We unpack this... doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 3/

Pausing and will be back later (to avoid getting overwhelmed as well as because I am hungry)! But if you're itching to know more check the PDF obviously. 😌 4/

Leibniz' Mill: "argument against the idea that mechanical components suffice to understand cognition" All are important & misused (1st 2) or forgotten about (last) to pretend we don't understand AI. OK & lil peek ahead to appreciate the pun this enables in section 4 (doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)! 6/

Before we use those 3 to tease apart what's going on, however, we have to contend with where we are. In 2010s we actually did avoid these traps, yes, even industry! “the most extreme promises of AI are based on a flawed premise: that we understand human intelligence” doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 7/

BRB again — grass-touching time — but of course you can read the PDF if I left you on a cliffhanger. 🫠 Guest, O., Nuñez Hernández, N. A., & Blokpoel, M. (2026). Understanding Artificial Neural Networks: Mysterianism about Known Mechanism is Mysticism. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 8/