I think the issue is less ultra-pragmatism and more a desire to (quantitively) measure everything to the nth degree. It starts with five year plans at the top a

I think the issue is less ultra-pragmatism and more a desire to (quantitively) measure everything to the nth degree. It starts with five year plans at the top and filters down to almost every level of society. Once everything is understood as a list of items with numbers attached, certain behaviours become incentivised. Society optimises for the map not the territory.