USB-C Power Delivery has definitely made the big mess of wires a bit smaller but not all cables are created equal — some of them can handle upwards of 100 W while the cheapest can handle only 10. To accommodate this, USB-C cables need to actively tell both ends what their capabilities are, which turns an otherwise passive device into a hidden chip in a passive looking cable.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://hackaday.com/2023/11/22/freshening-up-googles-usb-c-pd-sniffer/