While I do agree with your points in general, it's important to keep in mind that everything is relative.
On the point about the cameras. If the photographer has a decent level of talent, then the gear definitely matters. Less so if they don't.
I know a lot of gadgety people who like to show off their expensive cameras. Their photos, however, aren't worth showing off at all - it wouldn't have mattered if they used a 5DMK2 or a lowly Rebel XSi. Boring is still boring no matter how sharp the picture is.
Indeed. That's part of my own logic for myself when considering "luxury" aspects of things. I'm not an avid driver at all, and it's not at all a big part of my life - so if I were to buy a car, "good enough" may very well be just that.
Whereas if I drove every day, and would spend a lot of time in the driver seat, I'd be much more inclined to buy something nicer (as opposed to merely functional).
In this case, photography is important to me, and I spend a lot of time doing it - so it's important that I have a tool that not only works well, but feels satisfying to use. After all, it's not a very good hobby if I'm constantly being frustrated by my equipments' usability.
Likewise, it's important for me to have a really nice coffee mug - given that it's part of my daily routine and I spend a lot of time interacting with it.
What I see is that many people over-optimize and fail to account for this effect - and they skimp on things that they do use heavily, resulting in a quality of life loss that they're probably not even aware of. (e.g., daily commuters, people who spend tens of hours in a car weekly, but driving a "good enough" beater, when they can easily afford better... or hackers who buy cheap/poorly made keyboards/mice even though they spend hours with it every single day).
On the point about the cameras. If the photographer has a decent level of talent, then the gear definitely matters. Less so if they don't.
I know a lot of gadgety people who like to show off their expensive cameras. Their photos, however, aren't worth showing off at all - it wouldn't have mattered if they used a 5DMK2 or a lowly Rebel XSi. Boring is still boring no matter how sharp the picture is.