I read about this a month ago and was intrigued and scared by the possibilities.
BnM, you are right. This is what Google should have been developing instead of creating a way to actively use the information people give and recieve in order to specifically advertise to them. While Google's idea is also great (it's phenomenal), Wolfram is following the path that has been laid out for sometime. After the creation of the internet, digitizing the world's information into a network of databases that can overlap on another is next. And though I applaud the achievements of the team behind the program; they are laying the foundation for something we may not want.
I've already made threads and rants about the future. I've already explained how education as we know it is a thing of the past; so I don't want to repeat myself. Yet, having all the information the world has ever known in a computable format is the first step to having that information directly loaded into our brains. I've made a thread recently talking about how the human mind can teach a computer to translate our thoughts; how a paraplegic can walk through a virtual world. Once that is reversed; once we find a way to literally have the computer teach us, it's only a matter of time before we have nano-organic computers in our brains that are ready to except any new digital information we feed it. Learning complex subjects and concepts would become instant. At that point, the human race is either fucked or prosperous beyond our wildest dreams.
Still, before we arrive at that point, this is by far the greatest utensil man has ever had.