Friedmanism replaced meaning with "make number go up."

Stuart Russel has shown that any optimizer will take an incremental gain on the dimension it's measured on even if it's at a catastrophic loss on dimensions it's not measured on.

The hotter you run that optimizing loop, the stronger the result.

The obvious result is a hollowing out of meaning that frays the social fabric even as it's doing "better than ever before" by the numbers.