[benzayb]

To quote:

"The talks in this series will present ideas on either (1) making SQL go as fast as possible or (2) replacing SQL with something better."

How were you able to infer that the existence of the word "go" in that phrase refers to optimizers?

And 2nd idea/proposal of "replacing SQL with something better" really implies that they are talking about the language and not the optimizer.

In any case, if they really meant "optimizer" then their phrasing is very vague and imprecise; if they are talking about the "optimizer" -- then which specific optimizer? They have failed to mention that too.