So, to be clear, you thought good reasons for an unrealistic testing process were:
* Argument from authority (because Norvig)
* "We might want to put a front ender in a back end job and vice versa so we need an interview process that accounts for that"
* Tests of "abstract skills" - as in, skills you won't actually use - are more important than tests of non-abstract skills which you will.
* "It's their money"