[NiloCK]

People have entire careers promoting incorrect ideas. Oxycontin, phrenology, the windows operating system.

Reconciling your self-concept with the negative (or fruitless) impacts of your life's work is difficult. It can be easier to deny or minimize those impacts.

[wavemode]

Yeah that's the part I'm not following. You think AI researchers would have their life's work invalidated by the creation of AGI? How? Presumably (in that scenario) their life's work (AI research) will have been foundational to the creation of one of the most important inventions of all time.

Or is your reasoning that they will be upset about not having invented it themselves (similar to those conspiracy theories about, the cure for cancer existing but scientists withholding it so they can keep doing treatment research)?