Respectfully: I understand the point you're trying to make but statements like these are IMHO overly simplified:
There are over 200 ranking factors in the Google algo...that's what makes it such a challenge.
To get the best results over the long haul, you need to tweak more factors than just keyword text links.
Actually, you need to nail down as many of the 200+ ranking factors as you can.
If you would have read through my comments in this thread you would understand that I am well aware of that. The point of this thread was to address specifically the relationship between PR and SERP ranking.
There is a ton of things to understand about SEO and if in every explanation given people go over all the various factors together, the subject can become very confusing.
PR affects and is affected by many factors. If everytime someone talks about PR they bring up as many different conditions as they can think of, then it can be confusing as to how it is affecting each one individually. Sometimes it's best to break complex subjects down into simplified sub topics in order to learn them.
Once someone understands the "oversimplified" explanations for each of various sub factors, then it can make more sense when looking at the overall subject.
So,
once again...
There are many, many other factors other than PR that affect SERP ranking. Many are much more important, but so many people get hung up on the importance of PR. If you are aware of other more valuable ranking factors than PR, that's great. If you don't know about other factors then it would behoove you to start learning them.
This thread is specifically about the relationship between PR and SERP ranking. As such it may seem "oversimplified". That's the point of the thread.
If you want to go over other ranking factors, or other purposes of caring about PR then you should find another thread to discuss them, or start a new thread. For the purpose of this thread those other factors add confusion when the point of the thread is to present a
simplified explanation of the single factor of when and how you should be concerned about PR specifically as it applies to SERP ranking.