I enjoy the psychology of quilters taking part in this thread. The engineer's mind makes me smile because I see my dad and other engineers having fun--thriving!-on designing organizational methods, making great use of space and resources, and all the engineers I know are also very artistic in some form. "Math" is not a four letter word to them, but "mess" is. The very word "collection" itself conjures up images and evokes feelings in each of us. Negative or positive?
My parents grew up poor and have never really overcome the Depression-era mentality that "you never know when you might need this." Hence, their basement is a place of "collections" I dread going through when they pass , from the junk removal standpoint.
As as for paring down things we don't use, want, or like before we die, is it loving to force our heirs to? If I can't, or don't want to deal with it, I imagine the burden it would place on my kids to do so. That motivates me to keep only what I'm enjoying.
I could speak to other topics in your well-articulated manifesto. Like I said, the psychology of this hobby fascinates me. We are all wired differently which is fun to observe.