"there is zero scientific basis for it."
I disagree. We are creating individual modules, getting computers to do what until very recently only human minds could do. If we can make a neural net that can tag pictures with what's in it and what those things are doing, then cognition isn't really all that far behind. We just have to make the same leap that evolution did when humanity was born, only we will have it easier because unlike evolution, we act with deliberate purpose, and we now know which part of the brain is responsible for long term planning, which I suspect is the missing link between what we have done so far, iterated out until it can carry out all the functions of the animal brain, and the complete AGI.
Also, you seem to completely miss the point of AGI. It isn't to create a special little snowflake homonculus, but rather to create an optimizer, a Great Optimizer that will remake the universe in our image, ensuring our survival and freedom at least until the heat death of the universe. Whether it feels feelings or pretends to feel feelings or feels nothing and communicates as much, that is all fine, so long as it carries out its purpose, and so long as its purpose is properly programmed with the long term best interests of all humanity and other sentient beings at heart.