I am hoping you are hinting that this story is an exact replica of that behavior... pulling off a social formula, on a slightly bigger scale. Even if you are not, having gone through a similar phase back in early years with that exact same motivation, I am!

This is a text book usage of social engineer. Putting in divorced parents, single child getting all the attention from the engineer dad making the kid an above average amongst his/her peers, and then putting in a girl, so to make you focus less on the flaws in the story and drool over the hot-geek image more... evergreen combination.

I would doubt though that Forbes came up with this on their own. Rather, it could very much be someone from anon, just having little more fun.