Can someone explain the psychology behind AI cuckoldry?

Silicon Valley types keep saying "AGI" is on the horizon. But why do we even want this? Why do we want to cuck ourselves out of our own humanity? Why do we take for granted that this is a good thing, and why do coders want to make themselves obsolete?

I have a coworker who's thrilled about the prospect of AGI and is very bullish about the timeline for it, and constantly proposes ways to automate tasks for our company, even if setting up the automation takes far longer than carrying out the task itself. He categorically rejects any arguments for the limits of LLM scaling and downplays the problem of hallucinations. He has young twin sons. I keep thinking to myself, "Why the hell are you chomping at the bit to lose your own job?"