I did the same thing you did, when I first started hiking and packing I carried ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Sure itwas heavy and slowed me down but I was perpared for anything. Then over time I began to whittle my gear down based on my experience lightening my load.

You said there's a difference between ultra light and ultra dumb. I agree with that but only because I know based on where I pack where that point is. When I go to parts of the country I'm not familiar with the gear list increases because I no longer am sure where that point between ultralight and ultradumb is for that area.

The problem I see is no one is saying anything like that, its all cut this and leave that. To me we are setting new packers up for failure.