In another guitar forum i am a part of, this topic (shredding) is as hot button an issue as transposing is in the piano room. 
Folks start going crazy once you ask that question.
I personally don't/ can't shred. I see it done, i just don't even know how it is physically possible to play that fast and remember all those notes.
Playing the guitar fast got a bad rap in the '80s when Yngwie launched a million copy-cats who thought that it was cool to play pointless solos that were out-of-context for the song which they were in (my personal opinion). There were already guys playing fast...Al DiMeola, Steve Morse, Alan Holdsworth, Jan Akkerman and super-old-school Jimmy Bryant...but these guys were playing some form of fusion where the display of excellent musicianship was expected and the songs lent themselves to the display.
So, what was once respected as really good guitar playing became loathed as mindless shredding with guys like Michael Angelo Batio as the ring leader.
Yet I digress...
The guy in the video in the first post has killer technique, but I'm bored with what he's playing after a few seconds because he doesn't take a musical breath anywhere. He might as well be a MIDI sequencer just drooling out 32nd notes at random.
Based on this one performance I'd say that he's one who give "shredding" a bad name. If he's got more tricks in his bag, my opinion is that he needs to incorporate them into the meedly-fest just to break up the monotony.
