That's not what they were saying.

Systems can hypothesize about themselves but they cannot determine why the rules they can learn exist in the first place. Prior states are no longer observable so there is always incomplete history.

Conway's Game of Life can't explain its own origins just itself. Because the origins are no longer observable after they occur.

What are the origins of our universe? We can only guess without the specificity of direct observation. Understanding is incomplete with only simulation and theory.

So the comment is right. We would expect to be able to define what is now but not completely know what came before.