[vinn124]

> Why should we expect there to be any mathematical foundation to this stuff?

i would be surprised that "this stuff" would be exception to the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics. mathematics underpins virtually every observed phenomenon, including theoretical physics, computer science, economics. in fact, the mathematical structure of any physical theory often points the way to further advances in that theory and even to empirical predictions.

to not expect that "this stuff" should not have any mathematical foundation is a fantastically naive view.

[Houshalter]

No, there is no mathematical foundation for most of that stuff. No mathematician can prove that gravity exists. You can describe the laws of physics with mathematical expressions. Just as you can describe machine learning algorithms with mathematical expressions. But you can't prove the laws of physics are true with math. And I don't expect anyone to ever prove that Machine Learning should work.