Earlier quoted context omitted.
10 years ago "use a strong password with all these symbols" Average person reluctantly moves from 123456 to P@55word! 8 years ago "no passwords such, use a pass phrase" Average person reluctantly moves from P@55word! to correct-horse-battery-staple 6 years ago "ok but you need to use different passwords on each site" Average person reluctantly moves to different passwords per site 4 years ago "but you can be phished,…
WebAuthn is an UX improvement as well as a security improvement. I sympathize with your point, but in this case it’s easily sellable as the cure to the rest of your list … unless you somehow lose your key.
I don't even think it's realistic to get him to use a smartphone for this, he hates the things.
WebAuthn works great for your Web 3.0 startup but as soon as you're talking about the average user, who is likely decades older than the commenters here, and far less interested in keeping up with these things, and far less patient with the hassles... asking them to carry hardware is a nonstarter for so many.