Very closeminded. I remember when HDD's were a few gig and we'd reached the limits of what was possible with platter density. Metal is not at it's end yet, and optical is pretty cheap and only beginning to enter mainstream.
Engineers have to work with real world constraints, now. They, unlike you can not build things based on wishes. Optical for the mainstream relies on things like this: http://newsroom.intel.com/community...el-silicon-photonics-demonstrated-at-100-gbps
Yes, very funny. 10GbE optical is about $25. For copper, cat 6 is rated up to 10 gigabit and is about $5 for a cable.
Cheap optical cables just moves the cost to the connector