This limitation does not hinder the performance of AlphaGo in the narrow world of go games, since the board description together with the rules of the game constitutes an adequate causal model of the go-world. Yet it hinders learning systems that operate in environments governed by rich webs of causal forces, while having access merely to surface manifestations of those forces. Medicine, economics, education, climatology, and social affairs are typical examples of such environments. Like the prisoners in Plato’s famous cave, deep-learning systems explore the shadows on the cave wall and learn
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