Just playing uhm angels advocate? Not sure how to call it, the naive optimist perhaps!

Not necessarily: the statement (in isolation) is a call to learn and become capable to explain limitations. The criticized effect is basically "people not being able to explain the limits".

I suspect that "finding limits" wasn't incentived though (and I mean things like positive feedback, not money). And then you get shit-in-shit-out factories.

Or to rephrase your statement: If you want to play a game then stick to the rules you've set up - otherwise everyone's allowed to cheat.