I'm also unconvinced by the idea that rapid reasoning can reach meaningful results, without a suitably rapid real world environment to play with. Imagine a human, or 8 billion humans if you like, cut off from external physical reality, like brains in jars, but with their lives extended for a really long time so that they can have a really good long think. Let them talk to one another for a thousand years, even, let them simulate things on computers, but don't allow them any contact with anything more physical. Do they emerge from this with a brilliant plan about what to do next? Do they create genius ideas appropriate for the year 3000? Or are they mostly just disoriented and weird?