There are still immutable truths that are likely to remain as long as humans are involved:
  1. If anything can go wrong, it will, and at the worst possible moment.
  2. There aint [sic.] no free lunch


Rather than ominous I see the multi-layer recovery options as a realistic assessment of how Macs often get used with lots of hardware devices, kernel extensions, and software over which Apple has very little to no control. My M1 Mac mini being a classic example. Accidents, incompatibilities, and/or outright screwups are possible. Who would want a Mac with no other recovery options other than a trip to the Genius Desk or purchasing a new Mac? The Fallback Recovery Drive strikes me as a reasonable way to encourage reluctant adopters to upgrade as it offers a quick, straightforward way to fall back to the previous release not to mention making it unnecessary for me to keep bootable clones around in case of a serious issue in a beta. 🤓

Even iOS and iPadOS with their significantly more limited options and control have a Recovery Drive type option, but where no other device is needed to recover a Mac, Recovering an iPhone or iPad requires the use of a Mac and Finder (or iTunes or Music in earlier versions of MacOS).

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein