[nerdponx]

This is a very charitable interpretation. I got the impression that the author didn't know what "eigen" meant and borrowed it because it sounded good, and it was a stretch in the original context as well. That doesn't mean it can't be reframed in a way that makes sense, but I'm not seeing what you're seeing in the author's intent.

[aatd86]

The way I see it, the author might be trying to model the process of solving a design problem in terms of PCA decomposition vs a mere multivariate regression.

Certainly in vogue given the focus on data analysis, AI/machine learning lately.

Doesn't seem too far-fetched. Ok some things could be better explained but overall the article is still nice in my opinion.

Found that entertaining.