I wish I could reply to your last comment directly. HNs comment system is sometimes beyond my understanding. I make the better vs. faster distinction because,

I wish I could reply to your last comment directly. HNs comment system is sometimes beyond my understanding. I make the better vs. faster distinction because, if merely faster, the creative works and solutions to problems such an intelligence could cook up would be fathomable to humans, whereas if they are thinking better somehow, that is not a given. Kurzweil, Vinge et al predict intelligence that would leave ordinary humans behind. It could be that the problem space (reality) and 'algorithms' (for lack of a better term) used to approach that problem space in what we would term creative and intelligent ways, are as such that even a million fold increase in raw speed would not help very much. All that being said, I hope we do create durable intelligence at least up to our own capabilities. I personally think it is our responsibility to seed our part of the universe with intelligence and that is really the only practical way to extend intelligence into the wider cosmos.