[soVeryTired]

The article seems reasonable and well-argued. But policy gradients are a major cornerstone of reinforcement learning - just about every textbook will dedicate some time to them.

So how can we reconcile that observation with the arguments in the article? Is recht overstating his case or is this a big screw-up in the field in general?

Can anyone who knows about reinforcement learning weigh in?

[johnmoberg]

Ben's blog series culminated in a nice article[1] touring reinforcement learning. He also held a tutorial on the topic at ICML[2]. They might address some of your concerns.

[1]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.09460

[2]: https://www.facebook.com/icml.imls/videos/428757614305426