It seems Dark Mode vs Light Mode is the "modern" equivalent of emacs vs vi? We used to call it “themes”, a term that encapsulated a wide array of design option

It seems Dark Mode vs Light Mode is the "modern" equivalent of emacs vs vi? We used to call it “themes”, a term that encapsulated a wide array of design options and user preferences. Now, we have “modes” as if those preferences can simply be boiled down to a binary choice. Sure, the usage of the word “theme” hasn’t vanished, but it’s certainly taken a backseat to the narrow-minded focus on only giving users a choice between light and dark user interfaces. I remember when UIs defaulted neither to "light" nor "dark", but were a neutral gray; look at Windows from 95 through 2000, and Mac OS from 8 through 10.x.