> Bullshitters are responding rationally to a set of incentives which rewards pleasing people far removed from one's actual performance, versus pleasing those who directly depend on your performance.

This is a key point. It's not like these people get up in their morning, have coffee in their evil lair, twirl their mustache menacingly, and decide "I'm going to cheat again today, muahahahaha!" They're not cartoon villains, they are rational actors, playing the same game as us with the same rules, but those rules reward BS and self-promotion, often to a greater degree than Real Work™.