Yes.

Yes. All is good.

alas... some have no clue what a timing belt is or does....and i certainly didn't want to explain why valves crashing into pistons would be a bad thing.
'91 Toyota Celica, 2 minutes from work, 2011... two bent valves.. My Rally Co-driver had bought the el-Cheapo parts kit several years earlier........ i made sure to late-brake several corners during the next TSD we competed in..

i was actually considering using the VW Bug clutch cables as the analogy...

You guys have answered my questions. I'll keep riding along until I notice a change in the shifting. If it breaks on a ride then it's just like riding a single speed. No big deal!

Well, that certainly makes more sense than doing preventative maintenance that costs twelve bucks and 15 minutes.

I fondly? remember changing a bug clutch cable on the beach on South Padre Island, TX around 1980 on an epic road trip from WI. Digging in the sand underneath to reach things.

the ones i've changed were towed to my house, and then i drove them into the driveway with the starter motor... i had a great rep with the local bug nuts in the late 80s,early 90s... my tune ups were described as "miracles" after i'd adjust the throttle cable correctly, along with the other standard.tune up items...many bugs had never actually had full throttle available, it seems...
then, the pinto herd discovered that i could replace their starters without pulling the engines.... they kinda hung out with the bug people, i guess....

as to this thread, it looks like the OP will have to hit himself in the head with a hammer to realize that it will hurt.
oh well, huh? we all tried.

Having had shift cables break or fray inside a brifter 3x, twice on a tandem once on a single, the $7 cost for a stainless steel
cable and 20 minutes to change is small potatoes compared to 3 hours trying to fish out the broken off head of the cable
inside the brifter or the $50-100 a shop might charge. It only takes a single wire to fray and break to quadruple the amount
of time needed to make the change. A completely broken off head down inside the brifter is even worse, happened on
our tandem and the shop actually found two heads down inside the brifter. The R brifter will be 2-3x higher risk of failure
than the L. (I know this suggests we are slow learners.......)

I have Ultegra 6800 shifters. First shift to small chain ring and smallest cog then I undo rear RD shifter hood from front and fold back towards handlebar until I see cable head. Then shift up to next cog check cable condition, shift to next cog each time checking cable. This allows for a simple quick check of the most common area of fraying.

I use Alligator slick cables with good success. Been getting 1.5-2 yrs (4-6K mi.) before replacing rear.

Thanks!

I recommend replacing cables and housing with some frequency and while you are doing that you can replace your bar tape and make sure your bars aren't getting corroded with sweat. Plus good clean fresh cables and housing will improve shifting. At least every couple years it is a good thing unless the bike is rarely used and well stored but if you are riding them it is good to replacing things.

Just the 'coated' cable is my preference...but that may not count as I work in a bike shop and we get the cables and housings in bulk...they are either Jagwire or Clarks...both are high quality.

If it works it works and chapeau.
Personally I've never 'lubed' a slick whip cable.
It's not the 'lubrication' or lack of that is causing the cable to break in the 'brifter'...gawd how i dislike that word lol...it's the sharpish angle and constant tension, lack of tension during the shift that wears and eventually breaks...when it does it can be a real b itch to extract it...I've spend nearly an hour on one once and cursed the customer's laziness every few minutes because a bit of preventative maintenance would have prevented it from occurring in the first place.

This was the first time when I changed from downtube shifters to 6600 STI. After that cables were an annual winter maintenance replacement.