> I'm trying to wrap my head around exactly why so may people seem to want the best model available

This is the logical end point of the fear-based way LLMs are marketed. You must want the best, because everyone who has the best can work faster than you, generate more — if you don't have the best, you are behind! Why would you want to use anything other than the best?

The thing is, once everyone has the best, the question is: how much can you spend? If you can't spend more, you are behind! If spending the most will get you ahead, why would you not want to spend the most, if you can afford it?

There is only one way through this, in the long run: work out a way forward that doesn't make you dependent on this cycle. If you can compete at all, without the spend, what happens is: they burn money and you don't.

FWIW so far I don't think the benchmarks prove very much about the actual experience, and you can discover this just as easily without spending any money. And we know this about benchmarks! Once a benchmark seems useful as a measurement, it becomes a target and it stops being as useful.

I think your strategy is right. It requires bravery, and as you say, it requires ego balance. But I believe it is obvious that the world will either come around to a more sensible, stable pattern or it doesn't matter either way because we're fucked. So opting out of this mad early cycle and choosing to be calmer and happier is a choice you can just make.