I have suggestion for why this 'concept' is so popular.
It's because we can't face the fact that our STUPID(compared to our 'oh so powerful' tekmolokigal advances) ANCESTORS built something that we no longer can.
Actually its would be more accurate to say that we could build the pyramids if we chose to do so. We just don’t have any reason to do so and we certainly wouldn’t do it they way they did 5000 years ago.