The way methodologies like BEM and SMACSS work is to acknowledge that the cascade never works to your advantage, and avoid it entirely.
Edit: Also the point I was getting at was that cascade is a useful and powerful tool, just as the methodologies for controlling it are. We will also soon have a property that will eliminate the cascade entirely... all:unset;
I just think the problems and solutions listed in the talk are either non-problems or are things that could be solved in superior ways. And that it introduces more problems and limitations than it solves.