I think its fair to argue that modern silicon easily makes up the difference with clock speed; neurons can't do Ghz things by design (signal propagation in biological brains is also really slow compared to copper).
I'm pretty confident that algorithm/hardware design insights over the next decades will allow us to build human-rivaling cognitive abilities on basically todays consumer tech (analogously to how computer chess improved over time).
True although a lot of those neurons and synapses are in the cerebellum, responsible for motor coordination and or in the visual cortex and so forth. Only a portion are in the language and reasoning areas. LLM's are comparable to human scale now, i think, and if trends continue will swiftly pass us by in the future.
If I had a magic button I would not only pause AI development but set it back 10 years. Sadly I have no influence on events and those who do, don't care about the future of humankind or actively wish us dead.
I'm pretty confident that algorithm/hardware design insights over the next decades will allow us to build human-rivaling cognitive abilities on basically todays consumer tech (analogously to how computer chess improved over time).