I just try to keep an open mind to these sorts of things.

An open mind doesn't mean "a mind full of open circuits."

Why are you so certain you know what tech existed in the 80's?

Useful LLMs could not have been built without deep-UV semiconductor fabrication at scale, which in turn can't exist without a massive, complex supply chain that envelops the globe like a spiderweb.

Such technology could not have been built speculatively, or without people noticing, or with the physics and material science of the day. We didn't even know how to make blue LEDs then!