And he's right that lists are seriously undervalued right now. The best way to make a name for yourself in science is probably just by making lists. That was Chomsky's whole thing, find a pattern and make a list of all the ways it can occur. Anyone can do that, no genius necessary.
How does that describe generative grammar? There are an infinite number of ways that can occur.
A list is really a lens for viewing a particular chunk of the world. It's "here are all the things that have this particular characteristic", be it generals in an army or items you want to buy at the store. The characteristic tells you what to items to put on the list, and the items you put on it in turn tell you more about the characteristic itself. Going round and round like that is a good way to learn how the world works.