Probably just a really bad analogy. They also used "vicious cycle of driving and learning" where "virtuous circle" (which I take to mean a system with positive feedback) would be more appropriate.
Well, both vicious and virtuous cycles involve positive feedback (i.e. in the direction of current change). The difference is that virtuous cycles tend towards positive outcomes.
The whole piece uses terms with negative connotations to convey what I think is meant to be a positive message of being impressed by ingenuity. So, I'm not sure which is the more charitable interpretation: he was extremely careless in writing the post, or was deliberately misleading to get views.
He qualified it when he wrote the piece, calling it "sort of a 'wolf in sheep’s clothing'" in the actual article, then took off the "sort of" when he made the title. For that reason, I think it's probably sensationalist link bait.
That's not to suggest that it's a good analogy, because it's also a totally improper use of that idiom.
