Here's the formula for writing an "SEO is dead" article.
1. Take on tech person who's not directly involved in building, maintaining or marketing websites for a living.
2. Send him to a conference where a panel of similar out-of-touch 'experts' decry the death of SEO.
3. Said tech person goes home all jazzed up about the concept and posts a Tweet or some crappy Facebook message regurgitating what he just heard without doing any research.
4. Is amazed at the response (because let's face it, their swimming in unfamiliar waters).
5. Writes article explaining all the wonderful things he learned about SEO and how SEO experts are scum and how the concept of SEO is dead in X years.
6. Profit?
The point is this guy is not living in the real world, where not every site is based on Wordpress, and not every business skyrockets to the top of Google rankings without doing any sort of optimization.
Lesson? Stick to what you know, and don't make conclusions based on what you hear coming from the mouths of Internet celebrities.