[p1esk]

attempting to mimic animals

That is harder than you might think. For example, the simplest animal with a nervous system, C. elegans worm has been simulated "only 20 to 30 percent of the way towards where we need to get" according to one of the OpenWorm project leaders. That's 302 neurons total.

Using a computer analogy, it's like struggling to build an abacus when our ultimate goal is to build a Core i7 processor.

rather than any totally new approach

It's not clear to me that we have any approach to achieve AGI. People like Ben Goertzel have worked on that for decades without much to show for it. Current deep learning methods have little to do with AGI, they focus on very narrow applications, by design.

[ilaksh]

I didn't say simulate brains or that it would be easy. Research what I suggested a bit more carefully because it addresses multiple parts of your response.

[p1esk]

Are you associated with Ogmaneo project?

[ilaksh]

No it's just one of the more promising approaches that I have seen.