I don't think the author was suggesting that competition should be dissolved, just that it shouldn't be the supreme driving factor in all endeavors. She's arguing that competition is overemphasized and doesn't always benefit society in the way one might expect. Certainly competition has its place, but assuming it always leads to the best outcomes is unwise and, according to the author, provably false. I'm glad the author is looking into actual real world outcomes so that we can better understand the benefits and detrimental effects competition can have.
Yeah, it's common for authors to downplay anything that doesn't support their main thesis in interviews. I will say that the author seems to have been surprised by how damaging competition can be, so maybe she was trying to get that across, that things are not necessarily how one would expect. I do think that people have a bit of a simplistic view of competition in general and that negative consequences tend to be downplayed in our culture, so I found the article refreshing in that regard.
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