[tpeo]

Well, nobody is forced to create models they don't believe in.

But besides some models being useful, as that old adage says, some are also useful-er than others. Adding stuff such as "imagination" functions as a constraint on the number of behavioral patterns that we are willing to consider, and that might lead us to find that one which we're looking for (i.e. "intelligent behavior") faster than a naïve approach.

Besides, it might not be the case that the likelihood of observing "intelligent behavior" increases over the complexity of the behavior generating process.