This is one of numerous societal examples where the relevant detail is the ubiquity of the standard rather than the optimality. Once a given set of parameters

This is one of numerous societal examples where the relevant detail is the ubiquity of the standard rather than the optimality. Once a given set of parameters is broadly-applied, any improvement requires too high a short-term cost to justify. To wit, consider the colors of a traffic light. Perhaps [red, yellow, green] is not optimal. However, we've all generally grown to understand the pattern, and if somewhere, that pattern changed, there would be numerous accidents for a non-trivial period until folks adjusted. The goal shouldn't be a better keyboard, but rather, a better paradigm for conveying linguistic intention to a machine (e.g. BCI), which can then be constructed in a manner more reflective of what is CURRENTLY optimal.