I think you've misconstrued the argument being made. The historical analogy is kind of interesting -- "smoke and mirrors" was a real technology with genuinely

I think you've misconstrued the argument being made. The historical analogy is kind of interesting -- "smoke and mirrors" was a real technology with genuinely useful applications, but also attracted hucksters promising the impossible. Is it really that implausible that the supposedly world-ending powers of chat bots might have something in common?