While I see the point they’re trying to make, what this person is actually saying is complete nonsense.

Graceful degradation is not the opposite of planned obsolescence they’re two completely different concepts with nothing to do with each other.

Graceful degradation is where a product degrades in such a way as to maintain at least some functionality for as long as possible.

Planned obsolescence is where an item is intentionally designed to fail in order to get you to buy the next version.

Completely different concepts.

The actual opposite of graceful degradation, is progressive enhancement.