Humans are generally intelligent so we know general intelligence exists. Is there something special about meat computers that can't be replicated in silica? Possibly but probably not since they're both made of physical matter. So what's stopping us from creating AGI? Nothing. It's only a matter of time. We just have no idea how far away we are from it. It might take decades or it may pop into existence next week and if we're dismissive of it like your AI research buddies then we'll be completely caught off guard.