Going to paraphrase a work colleague here on a discussion of your words and what agile means to us: " It very much is a ceremony, and like most ceremonies, exists for historical reasons and barely has any meaning in the modern age"
He is so right. Basically I believe things like standups etc are an illusion of control that allows management elements to think that people are actually working. If someone stands up and says that they are doing something then they must be doing something.
One of my most read authors is L.E. Modesitt and in almost every one of his sci fi books (not his fantasy so much) he comments on this propensity we have for reports, paper trails and … standups to ensure responsibility. If everyone took personal responsibility for their actions, a society would not need any of those controls.
This is a book where he neatly encapsulates that in a great story.