[1] made me hysterical for a few minutes. I know this old audiophile who insisted on buying the gold-plated kind when I helped him set up his home theater. I literally spent hours trying to convince him that it didn't matter, but apparently learned behavior just beats logical arguments and evidence.
I think the reason there is a market for these kind of ripoffs is that back in the analog era the quality of cables really mattered, and that's when the people who buy these learned what they know of tech. I don't think it gets harder to learn new ideas as you get older, but instead unlearning the ones that have worked for you gets progressively harder the longer you have had them. I only hope I can be more rational when I get older.
I think the reason there is a market for these kind of ripoffs is that back in the analog era the quality of cables really mattered, and that's when the people who buy these learned what they know of tech. I don't think it gets harder to learn new ideas as you get older, but instead unlearning the ones that have worked for you gets progressively harder the longer you have had them. I only hope I can be more rational when I get older.