Well, since it's an entirely mental process, I don't see how it could. Unless you mean actually altering your emotions on a chemical level, which the placebo effect actually does too.
I mentioned it only based on what I had heard from my own coworkers and such. Most of the data I'm looking up now show it being a moderate success commercially, albeit with declining profits. My point remains, though, as I don't think the majority of the comments made about it at the time of unveiling were predicting "moderate success".
I've seen variations of this article so many times, where are the counter examples? What were people saying about the Apple TV, Macbook Air or any other failure you can think of when it was first announced? The moral here isn't "The iPad will end up being good, too" as so many people I have seen take from it, just that it's hard to predict what will be a commercial success based on stats, or more frankly, how good it is.
It seems that the general shift in the torrenting community has been towards private trackers anyways. The average pirate seems more interested now in finding good quality releases and obscure content. Also, private sites are usually safer to use on the legal side of it. Of course, I may just be projecting my own opinions onto a community in which I may be atypical.
Does anyone else feel that one of the most interesting parts of the entire article was introduced in the last sentence?
"After all, he says, Dead Hand is continuously being upgraded."
This seems contrary to the spirit of most of the rest of the article. The fact that is still active is presented as it should be - a surprising fact - but constantly being updated shows a commitment several steps beyond that.