That's why I said 'something like'. An extension of the idea adapted for wider use.

I'm certain such a person uses TCP/IP every day and doesn't need it explained. Yet twenty years ago, some knowledge of IP addresses and subnet masks etc was necessary to get connected.

Yeah, I think WebAuthn is fairly seamless. Ordinary users do not have to worry about certificates or anything. They just log in with their face, fingerprint, or a computer-local PIN.

I think what prevents wider adoption of WebAuthn is the fear that users are going to lose their phone and not have a backup authenticator. But, people probably lose their phone less often than they forget passwords, so I doubt it changes the support burden much.