I agree about the elaborate predictions and sales pitch feeling. I've reconsidered my Kurzweil hate since the Google hire, because I trust that they have people who can evaluate his skills. Before that, I had to evaluate them on my own, and I drew similar conclusions to yours.

I also think it was elitist of me. A lot of it was just because he's published books that have been marketed as pop-sci trade paperbacks, but I never actually read any of them.