BUT - having a massive number of cores WILL help us once we truly understand how we function. So the work does need to be done to get us there. In this respect, this is exciting news. Although, as you pointed out, the GPU companies are much better at adding more cores than Intel.
To truly get to full emulation of human function, we will need a large number of specialized processors geared toward specific tasks, which all communicate.Eventually, people will realize that our brain is a massively parallel device which uses message passing (nerve impulses) between a vast number of specialized subsystems which operate relatively independently from one another despite their close proximity to one another.
Brain function alone will probably require hundreds (if not thousands) of specialized, multi-threaded programs, each running on multiple cores and passing messages to other systems. Add in numerous subsystems for each of the senses, and a bunch more for motor control, and suddenly we're looking at a house-sized device with another house powering it. That's the real reason why we need to pack many more cores onto single chips if we want to recreate what humans do. It's really all about space and power constraints in the end.
When you think about it, humans are amazing devices. We're relatively compact, powered by chemical fusion, temperature-regulated, fully articulated, mobile, and self-aware. That's a lot to pack into a device the size of even the biggest of us.
