Why most general-purpose Agents fail and why I'm avoiding LLM "reasoning"

An Agent's core capability comes entirely from the underlying LLM. Therefore, the future of Agents is strictly dictated by the present state of LLMs. So, where exactly are LLMs right now? I believe we are currently in the "cottage industry" (or subsistence) phase of AI - the very dawn of industrialization. To use a historical analogy: we just invented the first steam engines. They are bulky, stationary, and only good for pumping water out of coal mines. We aren't anywhere close to having steam locomotives yet. Right now, there's a massive explosion of custom Agents being built.