What I'm curious about is what this industry thinks makes it unique with respect to practically every other industry with respect to interviewing. Almost every other field actually calls on references and relies on reputation to determine past work performance.

Also, I've conducted a number of interviews in my career and have been responsible for a number of hires and I've never needed to rely on a take home project to access a candidates worthiness of the position. Maybe it's because I was interviewing/hiring for positions which I was intimately familiar of the required tasks and I knew the right questions to ask.