Asimov and Kurzweil seem (to me) to be making similar predictions in terms of the gap between their predictions and the status quo. 50 years is probably a lot easier for that kind of progress to be made than 10. Did Asimov make any 10 year predictions? Not knocking either, but it would be interesting to see if Asimov had trouble with a shorter horizon.
I don't consider Kurzweil being able to make an good predictions in any time frame, his ideas are more a wishful thinking than showing the real understanding. I believe his major trait is just extrapolating wrongly, like here:
