Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're referring to backprop, no. It's an open research question to characterize what/how a neural net is learning during backprop (aside from trivial statements like "optimizing a nonconvex function" etc.)
The proof is in the pudding. If it is useful.
People aren't useful. Hammers are useful. It seems hard to go from useful -> intelligence, and hard to go from intelligent -> conscious.