I did keep reading the article, as I say in my edit. I differ from you in my interpretation of this facet of the essay. To me, it reads as internal contradiction — the author says that it is impossible to represent 1/120 in memory and then goes on to describe a strategy for doing just that.
The author does not present this conflict as "it may seem impossible…" but rather as "is is impossible." That's an inaccuracy, not a writing technique.