I am wondering about the proposed ease with which we can purposefully rewire control circuits. It is counterintuitive to me, given that "bad" ones (in me at least) do not appear to have popped up one afternoon but rather have been reinforced slowly over time.

This is one place where PCT is not as enlightening without adding a smidge of HTM, or more precisely, the memory-prediction framework.

The MPF says that we match patterns as sequences of subpattern: if one subpattern "A" is often followed by "B"", our brain compresses this by creating (at a higher layer) a symbol that means "AB". However, in order for this to happen, the A->B correlation has to happen at a timescale where we can "notice" it. If "A" happens today, and "B" tomorrow (for example), we are much less likely to notice!

Coming back to your question: most of our problematic controller structures are problematic at too long of a timescale for it to be easily detected (and extinguished). So PCT-based approaches to problem solving work by forcing the pieces together in short-term memory so that an A->B sequence fires off ... at which point you then experience an "aha", and change the intercontroller connections or reference levels. (Part of PCT theory is that the function of conscious awareness may well be to provide this sort of "debugging support" function, that would otherwise not exist.)

PCT also has some interesting things to say about reinforcement, by the way, that completely turn the standard ideas upside down, and I would really love to see some experiments done to confirm or deny. In particular, it has a novel and compact explanation of why variable-schedule reinforcement works better for certain things, and why certain schedules produce variable or "superstitious" action patterns.