It seems like a way to lend scientificity to his opinion. There are other ways of saying smarts>experience. Invoking y=mx+b here seems deceptive.
I don't think anyone took this beyond the anecdotal evidence provided. We can argue motive and hypotheticals all day but the fact remains that this is just a blurb thrown at fresh undergraduates.
It's a motivational speech (delivered via heresay on Quora) not a thesis.