He followed up with a actual UX designer, who pretty much told him that his proposal was the wrong way to think about it (objectively, not subjectively). He admitted that his proposal at the blender conference was more of a discussion about the way of the future -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aIA2LaB2Iw
After that, he stopped pushing so hard on the UI/UX problems of blender. I believe he is still part of the UI committee, but isnt pushing it as hard in his podcasts as he realises he doesn't have the answers.
So, people just told him he was wrong? End of story.
When someone throws out their ideas, people get to shoot them down then the status quo continues. I listened to all his podcasts. It was meant to be a conversation.
https://www.blenderguru.com/podcasts/podcast-jonathan-willia...