Also, if speed is their goal, why does the mandatory AMP 'boilerplate' include a CSS-driven 8 second delay before content is shown, that is removed if the client loads the AMP JS?
Oh right. I know the answer. It's to give the impression that blocking third-party resources (such as AMP JS) via e.g. a content blocker, won't make the site faster. Which as we know, is a load of shit.
You might have the best of intentions and donate your entire salary to homeless blind children - that doesn't mean for a second that I believe google's actual goals with AMP are anything less than exerting more control over the web for their own purposes.
You should stop and do some serious research on why people don't like AMP. You're talking about the Web like it's a Google "product." You're hijacking the Web in a way that will eventually destroy it.
Publishers don't want their content restricted and hosted on Google's servers on Google's domain, but they are getting their arms twisted by reduced rankings if they don't implement it. They also don't fully understand the long term implications of what they are doing.