I don’t have a problem in the world assuming that the cortex is an extreme learning machine.
It may come as a surprise to you but HTM does much of the memory functions you call out as advanced - right now - without waiting for some future technology.
You have to put it in the correct relationship with the sub-cortical structures; these lead the cortex around like a tame puppy. That relationship points the cortex at the right attention points to make scanning and scene digestion to occur. The emotional weighting of the scanning drives decision - arguably another learned behavior.
But yes, an extreme learning machine.