Hot take - these types of interviews are caused by "elite overproduction" - there are too many very qualified and capable programmers, so the end result is a process that is selecting for the most agreeable and obedient personalities who agree to put up with these gauntlets.
In the dotcom boom, my impression was that (pre-existing Microsoft interviews aside) current techbro interview baggery was caused by a bunch of affluent people rushing into the field, and (for various reasons) seeking to erect barriers to entry for people who are not them.
But now most people working implicitly assume that the interviews are supposed to be some BS test rituals, rather than a collegial dialogue. So now we're just beating anyone who tries to climb the ladder to get the bananas.
I think you're right that there's also something to the obedient corporate drone theory, for some very large and stodgy companies, in the exact flavor of interview nonsense that they do. But at the bulk of tech companies, I think a lot of hiring managers just want people who will be productive and professional, and these interview rituals don't seem to be good indicators of that.
It may also be that "elite overproduction" is also going on, depending on how you define the terms. Or just oversupply of people who meet the (as XKCD put it) "our entire field is bad at what we do" bar for competence. But in any case, I don't think that overproduction is the cause of the nonsense interviews, but maybe overproduction permits the process to be ridiculous.
