Google controls the incentives, so if they told people to "stop writing bloated UIs" in exchange for the lightning bolt then it would happen. But they are altering the deal and telling people to do AMP. The technical aspects don't matter.
It's bad, but what are you going to do? If Google instead offered a paid CDN product in exchange for the lightning bolt and carousel placement the line would still be out the door.
The technical aspects only matter to Google: lightweight sites keep their hosting costs down and the quality decent. AMP is Google's play at finding a place in the social space, and just like Facebook, publishers are happy to play.
