It struck me as sort of a sly understatement, which went over well compared to the more familiar "I am politely and quietly screaming that this is important" tone.
I'm not confident that is the case, or at least that this meaning is reliably communicated.
Yesterday I sat down with Lukeprog for a few hours and we produced this ten-page interview for the Singularity Institute blog. This interview contains information about the Singularity Institute's technical research program and recent staff changes that hasn't been announced anywhere else! We hope you find it informative.
http://singinst.org/blog/2011/09/15/interview-with-new-singularity-institute-research-fellow-luke-muehlhuaser-september-2011/