It's really just for the sort of joy of its own triviality.

To be sure, the application of social analytics to the world of research and scholarship may yet provide important insights that make it easier to assess a scholar s true contributions. The challenge will be to manage the trade off between transparency and triviality.

As you remember, at some point in the book for 2001, HAL realizes that the universe is too big, and grand, and profound for those really stupid astronauts. If you contrast HAL's behavior with the triviality of the people on the spaceship, you can see what's written between the lines.