Is it reasonable to believe CloudFlare WARP works?

[teo123]

CloudFlare WARP allegedly replaces TCP with an algorithm they claim is more appropriate for modern Internet (attempting to determine whether packet loss is due to network being overloaded or due to signal-to-noise ratio being too low, and adjusting connection speed appropriately, whereas TCP always responds to packet loss by halving the connection speed, and WARP also deals with out-of-order packets in a way that supposedly leads to fewer re-transmissions), while keeping your IP address the same.
To me, the core premise of CloudFlare WARP sounds ridiculous. I mean, how can it ever be that, in some types of network error, the correct response is to speed the transmission up, rather than to slow it down (as TCP does, and common sense tells me that is always approproate). If somebody you are talking to does not understand you, is it ever more appropriate to start speaking more quickly, rather than more slowly?
And let's assume that core premise is true. Do you understand how WARP could possibly work? I mean, the server you are connecting to still expects TCP packets, so how can a piece of software installed on your computer, but not on other computers on the network, possibly enable you to use WARP instead of TCP? This sounds quite a bit like when VPNs promise that all your Internet connections will magically be encrypted, even though that is clearly impossible for them to ensure that, but it is even worse than that. How can a piece of software on your computer make sure all your traffic goes through CloudFlare servers while you keep your IP the same (the websites you are connecting to can see it), given that it is the ISPs who decide how packets are routed?

Regardless of how ridiculous the idea of CloudFlare WARP sounds, there seem to be reasons to think it works. CloudFlare offers free and paid services that use it. As well, nobody seems to call CloudFlare out for talking obvious pseudoscience.

So, what do you think?