Is this tire tread falsely accused of being "decorative"?

I swapped out the IRC Tandem on the fixie yesterday afternoon, as I'd
been riding it instead of the roadie with skinnies when out for the
evening twenty to thirty, and the Tandem tire had been a bit noisy,
taking away from the enjoyment of the local wetlands. I mounted up a
25mm slick, as that's the narrowest the rim would take, and did my
ride. I decided immediately that the buzz of the IRC was more than
made up for by its majestic ride qualities, so on it went again...

So here's the question: The Tandem is appreciated as a very tough tire
because it has an oval section, resulting from both casing shape, and
an obscene thickness to the tread. Now, my theory to the "tread" is
that it's actually there to help tire flexibility and give a nice
ride, and the purpose was never to decorate or embellish. Look at how
it perfectly collapses together when tied with this cotton kitchen
string:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1192/...4cf1dbcf_o.jpg

What sayeth the slide rules in the peanut gallery?