Absolutely. I don't take that quote to mean we should all start from ground zero every time...if so experience wouldn't have much value.

I more think the point is that the abstractions now obvious to you emerged at some earlier point that you now recognize, and application makes sense. Speculative implies predicting, and if you've been around long enough in the same domain, it's likely you aren't guessing.

It's probably something that applies more to younger devs than older, but not exclusively of course.