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As someone who values ergonomics (using a 34-key split keyboard and all), I wish more people would see that it's more than just BS.

Qwerty has existed for more than 30 years but it really sucks. Why cling to suboptimal things just because they're old?

In vim specifically, there are many more powerful and precise movements you can make by chaining motions. But before those can feel natural and fast, you have to keep your hands on home row.

That is true. But I can aways move my hands back. (Searching and next, next will also take them out of the home row)

Or I can use PgUp/PgDown as well.

Feels natural to me when I 20<Up>. Homerow-ing is pretty distinct from vimops. I agree that it is faster than piano-typing, but it doesn’t add a huge sector into the pie chart of fast editing methods.

Why move my hands to the far-away arrow keys when I can just use hjkl (and all the other movement commands) right under my fingertips?

I don't know about you, but unless I'm actively typing, my hands aren't on the keyboard. And if I am typing, I'm in insert mode and the keys are useless then, but the arrow keys aren't.