> It's easier to work with if you're new to Python, lazy, or just not generally familiar with the concept of a "project".

If you have automatic virtual environments then it doesn't matter to these personas (including the Jupyter user) unless they need multiple projects or something in which case automatic virtual environments are strictly better.

> Also as you're well aware, Python existed for a long time before the virtual environment concept.

Correct, but I don't think that supports the idea that global environments have a use case that isn't better served by project-scoped environments.