McGinn seems to interpret "pattern recognition" as visually recognizing geometric / spatial patterns, rather than groups of neurons recognizing patterns of activation.

While there's a lot to criticize Re: Kurzweil and his claims, McGinn's dismissal of the pattern recognition argument is just wrong. It does stem from an obvious misconception, though.

If you've worked with artificial neural networks, it's clear that Kurzweil is talking about patterns of activation, not sensory stimuli.