>Given the attitudes of people in the space and beyond and lack of funding why shouldn't the more valuable and fundamental research be kept secret?

If it's secret, how do you know about it? If you don't have specific knowledge, how can you claim there is "fundamental AGI" research done in secret, as opposed to it just not being done, as all appearances indicate?

>It is being said that it's impossible...

Nobody who understands recent neuroscience claims any such thing is impossible. We just claim it hasn't been done in the lab yet.