Right on the mark. I have been following AI research closely for about 25 years now, an there is nothing that could explain intelligence. Not even a theoretical model that could work withing the constraints of this physical universe.
At the same time, we can observe intelligence. An here is a little thing conveniently glossed over by some AI researchers and almost all neuro-"scientists": We can only observe Intelligence in connection with consciousness. Any actual researcher would conclude that the two are at the very least related, and may actually be aspects of the same thing. Of course, neuro-"sciences" says that consciousness is an illusion (if so, who has that illusion?), because they cannot explain it. At all. That is a rather pathetic cop-out.
"Cargo cult" phase indeed. Describing something from the outside does not explain its nature on the inside. A box with a person in there can talk just as intelligently as one with a phone in it, yet is fundamentally different.