Searl's Minds, brains and programs, the source of the "Chinese room" argument you've no doubt seen many times, was published in 1980, The Emperor's New Mind in 1989. There have been people dismissing strong AI since there have been enough people playing with computers for it to matter. You didn't hear much from them before because modest uses of AI don't make interesting pop science. What changed is that the singularity nerd religion got big enough that people feel obliged to burst bubbles publicly rather than just arguing with each other.It's only been in the past 10 years that the professionals have begun saying "that which you consider AI may never happen."
I doubt I mentioned it, just because the argument involves quantum physics and Godel's theorems and I avoid conversations on the Internet involving minds and either of those things. Penrose's books are pretty popular in the same circles Martin Gardner and Douglas Hofstadter's books are, though.