The quote jumps between models of large brain regions to molecule by molecule analysis, leaving out the intermediate of creating models of neurons. Thus all the talk in the roadmap about predictive models.

Well, there are many different possible levels of brain emulation (just like in emulating video game consoles), all of which have different demands and feasibilities. The Whole Brain Emulation roadmap discusses several.

No one denies that details of every molecule would be a very brute force and difficult emulation and as far as that goes, he's not strawmanning; but to think that this is the only kind of emulation and dismiss emulation in general on the basis of the specific, that is a straw man.

In the first quote, he sets up the straw man as gwern describes it. In the second quote, he defends his first straw man by saying "but that's what singularitarians believe", essentially putting up a second straw man to defend the first.