Honestly, I've never understood the insistence on attributing U2's decision to focus on "songwriting" to Rick Rubin. Those Rubin sessions happened in, what, 2006, right? The band had already re-focused on songwriting with ATYCLB and HTDAAB, well before meeting Rubin. That was the whole point - back to basics, less heavy production like in the 90s, four guys in a room. They were already doing it.
There was an acoustic version Of Stuck. In A Little While was played during the acoustic set during the Elevation tour. Wild Honey was an acoustic song. The Ground Beneath Her Feet was played acoustically during the Elevation tour. A Man And A Woman was basically acoustic. Yahweh was performed acoustically on the Vertigo Tour. Original Of The Species - Bono's admitted attempt at writing a Beatles song - was played keyboard-only on the first leg of the Vertigo Tour. Fast Cars was in large part a stripped down version of Xanax And Wine.
As far SOI and SOE, they were born out of a lack of lyrical focus on NLOTH. Bono has said that he had some kind of block while writing NLOTH, in terms of writing from his own POV, so he relied on POVs from fictional characters in a number of those songs; and after that, with SOI and SOE, he tried to dig deeper into his own history and life to find something to say. And that probably led to his autobiography, too. I honestly don't think it had a single thing to do with Rick Rubin.
I don't doubt that Rubin said the things he's been quoted with, I just doubt that they had the kind of impact on the band that some you think they had.
And not for nothing, but Rubin isn't some hack, he's a living legend in his own right, having founded Def Jam and produced for the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, a host of other early hip-hop artists, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, Tom Petty, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Cash's "American" series, System Of Down, Metallica, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, to name a few. And, I mean, I know RHCP isn't popular around here, but he is essentially their Eno/Lanois; he's their guy.