Yes you caught me out in a bit of exaggeration there. For the topmost level of tasks people typically do want a low-latency, high-bandwidth UI for displaying and manipulating the information they care about.

> "My ideal software has a well designed and thought through user interface for the primary interactions, allowing me to think about the goal I'm trying to achieve"

Yes, this is the crux of the whole discussion. The paradigm is called "Intent-based UX".