The CLI only does so effortlessly because of all the work done to make it effortless. Pipes, string formatting, argument parsing. If the same amount of work was put into a direct manipulation GUI as was put into unix, it would be just as effortless, if not more.
Why are terminals still based on the concept of a teletype? It is fully one dimensional. You have to fit all interactions through that one dimension. (Multiple terminal windows are a kind of hyperspace, I suppose.)
I have recently found myself pondering what would have happened if a micro computer back in the BBS days could have handled access to multiple BBSs at the same time. My suspicion is that we would be looking at something very similar to what a multi-tab web browser is giving us these days.
Why are terminals still based on the concept of a teletype? It is fully one dimensional. You have to fit all interactions through that one dimension. (Multiple terminal windows are a kind of hyperspace, I suppose.)