Hey!

Can this be made remote? It'd help us non Americans/American non Californians to apply.

From the application page :-

Important note: This is an application, not a signup form. We have an application instead of a first-come, first-served signup because it helps guarantee a diverse group of participants and that matters a lot to us.

It seems counter intuitive to base this in Mountain View if you care about diversity. Non American Hackers, Americans who aren't in California get disqualified immediately.