For those posting alternative conjecture, I suggest reading the short piece about "apical dominance" in the OP before making assumptions. I'm not saying anything is necessarily wrong, just that the thread really isn't based on mere conjecture but on science.
The plant has a natural apparatus for determining shape. This apparatus (apical dominance) makes the plant grow up as best as it can. This is no doubt a means of competing for sunlight with surrounding plant growth. Tall plants are bad. Tall plants mean much of the growth is further from the light, AND tall plants mean a great deal of energy is going into producing stem. The more pruning one does, the less stem and more shoot the plant produces.
While tying a plant down does bring more shoots close to the light, it doesn't matter that much because the growth on these branches is inhibited by auxin. Your plant is still mainly in the business of producing stem.
My ultimate experiment, will be to prune a plant until all branches grow branchlets large enough to prune. So, I will prune the main shoot, every branch, and then each branchlet. Then, once the branchlets produce shoots I will flower. The plant should be one massive bud.