If they (authors) are basically right, then it's a game changer.
This is true of all new ideas about A(G)I, including past ones that fizzled, which is all of them so far. One might conclude that this one is likely to fizzle, except that there are anthropic issues about alternate histories in which one of these advances foomed instead of fizzling. I am not sure how to handle that.
Is there any reason to think that this new idea has something that all previous ideas lacked?
I wouldn't say, that all those ideas fizzled. They brought us some great results, don't forget to give credits to those who deserve.
But if you want to understand seeing, you have to understand optics. If you want to understand motioning, you have to understand mechanics. You have to understand the physics behind, any biology, physiology or anthropology is not enough. The same goes with flying. It's aerodynamics which enables flying.
Animals were always just users of the underlying physics, clumsy users in fact. Not at all the inventors of breading (oxidatio...
A deeply satisfying view on intelligence here:
http://www.insidescience.org/content/physicist-proposes-new-way-think-about-intelligence/987/