While the article itself is not poorly written, the title is incredibly bad. Kind of like using the title 'To Run a Marathon, Run Like a 94-Year-Old' when a single 94-year-old ran a marathon (it still would be impressive, though).
So from the perspective of younger (than 94) people, is there anything we can do to emulate his experience? Take huge risks/be bold/don't follow conventional wisdom? It's risky, if you have anything to lose. It's seriously impressive when someone pulls it off, though, and those are the stories we pass on in the media and over coffee or beer.
Which is why a strong social safety net is not necessarily anti-capitalist. It is just the realisation that there are probably millions of people that would be better at your job than you but are not at the right place at the right time.
Society cannot control everything, but by making sure that everyone receive a good level education, health, food, shelter and freedom is maximising the chances that the next Steve Jobs is not wasted flipping burgers at MacDo.