As a partial response (based only on my limited understanding on the subject - and this is removed from the obvious such as weight and windage). In order to get the slack and stretch out of a wire you need to tension it to a specific point which usually ends up being a percentage of it's ultimate strength. To get that same performance out of a larger wire you need to tension it somewhere in the same percentage range. However, since the breaking strength of that wire is so much larger the corresponding tension you need is much higher delivering much greater loads to the boat and rig.
Take an overly simplified and extreme example: Let's say we've got a columbia 22 with some 3/16th wires. We've decided we're going to take this boat around the world and simply don't believe the 3/16 wires are strength enough so we beef it all up with 1/2" Now you can easily visualize that tension needed simply to take the slack out of the shouds and the sag out of the stays would be enough to damn near punch that tiny deck supported mast right through the cabin top.
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