No one can tell whether AGI in the form of something akin to biological brains will happen. How will we build something we can't comprehend the architecture of?
Also, I think their point was not that AGI will never happen, it's more that it doesn't matter whether it happens or not, because AI/AGI will not solve our problems (well, it will solve some, but create so many more that in the end we've really achieved nothing).
I think we are further from AGI than people think. I doubt I will live to see it.
You have it plain sight. Refusing to engage with someone is not gatekeeping. Your definition pretty much aligns with what I said.
And if someone doesn’t have any idea what they’re talking about, then maybe they shouldn’t take part in the talking. You can’t tell me that you‘ll take cybersecurity advice from someone who saw a movie about hacking.
Which doesn’t mean that clueless people have nothing of value to add, but it’s unlikely (especially in highly factual discussions).