20 Megapixels on a 1/2.3" sensor !!!

I never expected that the megapixel race would get so out of control. The image quality is bad enough even with 18 megapixel 1/2.3" sensor on the HX200. Why add even more?
20 megapixel images on a small sensor will have ton of noise/noise reduction smudges even at base ISO and it will clog our SD cards with large files that contain nothing but a smeared mess.
Does someone remember reading an article back in 2001 when the founder of Dpreview Phil Askey said: 4 megapixels on a 1/2.3" sensor??? That's too much. When does the silly megapixel race going to end?

I wonder how he would reacted if someone from the future told him that in 2013 we will have 20 megapixel sensors with photo-sites approaching the size of the atom