While not the specific example you just gave, if you look at Mouse and/or Trackpad System Preferences, you will see examples of many gestures that are available.
All turned off!
To each her/his own, but if you work in multiple spaces (i.e., virtual Desktops that are available by default through the F3 key) gestures for swiping are invaluable.
It makes me laugh to remember what it was like working on the old Mac SE with it's 8 inch screen—never complained about being cramped and loved the gray-scale display because it was so sharp—and now on a 27" monitor I "need" multiple work areas.
Now that I think about it even more, it may be the large screen that benefits from gestures. It is certainly a looong way to drag a mouse when you have so much screen real estate!
