Is this new, or just a professional blogger weaving a few familiar concepts together into an essay that sounds new? "Quick witted" is an expression that goes back at least six centuries (esp. definition 20), and "quick/slow on the uptake" at least two. The correlation between the speed of neural signals and IQ has been known for a while. In fact, a quick grasp of new concepts is pretty much a defining characteristic of intelligence (as the latter word is generally used). And how often have we heard the standard startup wisdom of "fail early and often", "move fast and break things", etc.? There's even a whole program development methodology called "Agile".

If anything, Adams is being a bit slow on the uptake here.