It's cool of you to share bro. I would care we reserve judgement and the urge to draw conclusions until we have collected a lot of evidence.

My father too has a PhD and dresses like mantracker. Blending in is a societal concern we can address once we settle the personal ones. I'll share one reason I wear a tie, it helps with my hypertension from stress and helps me contain my anger at technical debt and things of that nature. I wear a jacket for all the pockets. It's like cargo pants but with a different cultural perception. We're after personal choices here.

Edit: my pockets have sub pockets into which I put desk keys and the like.

Can you please dive deeper on how the tie helps with your hypertension?

Yes, most certainly. The tie in combination with a comfortable stiff collar compresses the arteries in my neck and prevents me from letting anger and stress rise up into my upper chest area and stay there. In combination with breathing I can dissipate the anxiety to the rest of my body. As well, it does not allow for loud outbursts. Fundamentally, suits and ties alter your posture and behavior patterns to more gentle ones in my experience, while providing needed support.

It's like a G suit allowing me to work in higher atmospheric pressure and stress without damaging my soft internal organs.

I don't understand, could you elaborate on how compression around your neck prevents anything from rising into your upper chest, considering the higher positioning of the neck in relation to the chest?

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16918606 in this post they show how getting in touch with your body helps understand your own emotions. The tie helps amplify these signals by increasing sensitivity, as mentioned earlier!

I had to check the definition of hypertension, it seems I'm using the alternate definition being a state of psychological stress. In my case prolonged sitting at the desk in a frustrated state led me to hyper-extend my neck region, kind of puffing out my chest. By the end of the day I would invariably have a ball of pain above my sternum? (right where the nucktie knot goes)

The necktie prevents any pressure from building up there and subtly changes the way one swallows to support the adam's apple. It's very comforting once you get the hang of it but I can understand why people find it uncomfortable, especially if the fit isn't right.

Essentially the tightness afforded by the tie alerts one to the pressure buildup earlier than more 'comfortable' collars which provide less support, thereby allowing one to take a rest or breathe and allow the pressure to dissipate.