> wondering what makes him a quotable authority on the topic

His wealth.

The obsession with cyber-malthusianism among the owners of tech informs me more about their valuation of humanity than about the future of tech. Fortunately there's a more level headed analysis that was published by the NYT recently for those of us that aren't consciously or subconsciiously all-in about the idea of making Snow Crash non-fiction https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/opinion/no-robots-arent-k...

I followed the link to his interview where he says his 2 biggest investments are Netflix and amazon, maybe that why? TV personality known for investment -> he's invested in amazon -> claims amazon is one of the best tech company followed closely by google, facebook -> people will want to go with amazon ? just making guesses based on that interview article.