While I don't have the knowledge to dismiss Kurzweil's theories outright (I only have a gut feeling), I must say that this response did not achieve a refutation of the statement that "Ray Kurzweil does not understand the brain".

I did not see anything in that response that indicated that Kurzweil is basing his beliefs on anything more than his 2001 adaptation of Moore's law to all things technological; to me, the brain's biology and particularly its physiology fall outside our current notions of technology.