[dinkumthinkum]

The problem is, and I don't want to be mean about it, is that Kurzweil is a crackpot and charlatan. This is not to take away from his intelligence or his technical achievements, which are indisputable. However, even Nobel prize winners can be outright crackpots and crazies (Nobel disease).

I don't know exactly what Google's motives are here, I suspect it's something less than actually bringing about some of his, let's say, loftier ideas.

[Lost_BiomedE]

If I were Google, I would hire him just to mumble into a recorder all day. Then have a small team decipher and escalate possible ideas.