why? do you consider Vipassana to be "hocus pocus"?

He might be associating Vipassana with the Goenka courses. Any time the guy speaks, it's nonsense. He explicitly states his whole course and meditation is a way to make sure you reincarnate better.

Also lots of inane physics talk, mostly attacking scientists for figuring out stuff then claiming Buddhists knew such technical details all along.

Also, gems such as "a cat killing a mouse is not true nature".

The many days without any communication is great. The schedule, up at 4, hours of meditation a day, is great. But everything from the guy's fake accent/guru style to the words he says is "hocus pocus".

I've heard of Goenka, but never ventured to listen to his talks. I'm not a big fan of these new age Gurus.

I believe mediation is science, since it requires practice, discipline and effort. Some might not see results immediately, but keep pushing.

playing the piano well also requires practice, discipline, and effort. it's not science. it's an artistic performance skill.

meditation is an empirical approach to psychological and spiritual development. there is a lot of overlap between the empirical approach of Buddhist meditation and the empirical approach of Western experimental science. however, it's not accurate to describe meditation as science.