Good old jingoism ... and nepotism towards his friends, Kurzweil. People like Gruber and Wadhwa should not hold so much sway with normal masses. Just read these two sentences.
"Google already reads my emails before I do, and, by analyzing what I search for on the Internet and which Web sites I visit, knows what I am thinking. It “knows” what other people think about me. If my friend and noted futurist Ray Kurzweil succeeds in his mission at Google, it will understand my wants and needs too. It will predict what I want to search for, where I want to go to, and what I want to eat. It will understand how my brain thinks and become my personal assistant."
"Contrast this with what we can expect from Facebook: more ads, more annoying sponsored posts, more intrusions of privacy. "
"Google already reads my emails before I do, and, by analyzing what I search for on the Internet and which Web sites I visit, knows what I am thinking. It “knows” what other people think about me. If my friend and noted futurist Ray Kurzweil succeeds in his mission at Google, it will understand my wants and needs too. It will predict what I want to search for, where I want to go to, and what I want to eat. It will understand how my brain thinks and become my personal assistant."
"Contrast this with what we can expect from Facebook: more ads, more annoying sponsored posts, more intrusions of privacy. "