Looking at cable as a part of a bigger picture of human-nature....

Humans tend to purchase products/commodities equal to their purchasing power. For example, a rich person will buy a Mercedes rather than a Buick, or Rollex instead of Timex. Mind you that Buick or Timex will do the same function as their expensive counterpart (or may be better), but Rollex and Mercedes does it with style and feel good.

Can we apply the same logic to expensive or exotic cables? If one owns expensive components and speakers, would they want to have 0.30 cent a foot zip cord (that have HomeDepot logo on it ) hanging from back of their $3,000 speakers, or $10 Radio shack IC from $5,000 amplifier?

There is a fierce commitment going on at some other audio board (which I am not going to mention) to rationalize use of exotic/expensive cables, but at the end, it all might come down to cosmetic rather than functionality if we include the human factor.