Part of the vim cult's belief is the Never-Leave-Home-Row. That is, where you first rest most of your fingers on the asdfjkl; keys. Your hands are 99% of the time if you're not actively typing in the document. If Vim didn't have modes then you'd have to drop this concept. But of course, mistakes in vim don't normally result in dozens of people dying. If something happens that I didn't expect I just glance to the lower-left corner of my terminal to see what mode I'm in.
Part of the vim cult's belief is the Never-Leave-Home-Row. That is, where you first rest most of your fingers on the asdfjkl; keys. Your hands are 99% of the time if you're not actively typing in the document. If Vim didn't have modes then you'd have to drop this concept. But of course, mistakes in vim don't normally result in dozens of people dying. If something happens that I didn't expect I just glance to the lower-left corner of my terminal to see what mode I'm in.