I'm not sure how you see this as incompatible. Ball bearings require "lubrication", and the lack of good lubricants is exactly why they use fluids that end up

I'm not sure how you see this as incompatible. Ball bearings require "lubrication", and the lack of good lubricants is exactly why they use fluids that end up behaving as I described, and why "lubricant" is the wrong way to think of it in this case. If anything, the existence of a good lubricant would prevent the surface wear. Temp control and fluid dynamics are what they have to work with, and yes it results in surface wear because it's suboptimal. But so does running your 4-stroke too hot.