We don't have any proof to suggest that "intelligence" grants a fundamental understanding of everything though. It can help us understand "things", do neat stuff, and build models to explain the working and structure of phenomena; However would having an IQ of 5000 mean you are now "God" or gain and understanding of everything including the mystery of existence itself?

At some point, it seems important to stop trying to understand the world through ideas and concepts and just experience it.

I really think there are more religious like beliefs on the pro AGI camp than the other way around, think about what AI promises to deliver by "visionaries" like Hinton and Kurzweil:

* Immortality.

* Resurrections.

* Nirvana / Heaven / Utopia.

For all we know, we create an AGI who becomes amused with fucking itself, or develops new games it finds interesting and spends all eternity playing them. Humans have a belief that we're going to create "god" as we think of "him". All seeing, all knowing, all powerful. It does get a bit ridiculous at times.

I sympathize a lot wit the parents view personally.