I notice I often have very strong knee-jerk reactions to these kind of comments.

It's usually from some person that has not spent very much time meditating at all or invested much time around the various cultures which treasure and pride themselves in their meditative practices. It usually goes something like:

"[Some kind of reasoning], therefore, there is no need to meditate."

I'd like to provide an analogy which I think fits:

We use our muscles every day. If you just use your muscles well, there's no need for strength training!

And sure, I mean, that KIND of works. But like... There's a LOT of research around the benefits of strength training. And there's a multitude of reasons why someone might want to get involved in strength training. Very few people aspire to become powerlifters, etc.

IMHO, it's a dangerous view to take, as it can lead to dismissal of a lot of fantastic use cases, and it leads to people dismissing meditation outright ("No doctor, my friend said that if I just move correctly, I don't need strength training!").

And yes, similar to strength, there's no upper limit on training for things like focus, concentration, mindfulness.

There's no 'need' for meditation sure, but by that logic there's no 'need' for most things.

What seems to be true to me is that it's absolutely fantastic in terms of technologies available to us for self (and also society)-improvement.

I want to comment that in Buddhism, the role of meditation isn't (just) to reduce anxiety or manage emotion. Indeed if this was the role, then other techniques of anxiety reduction or emotion management could replace meditation.

Instead, the ultimate role of meditation is to experience your inner reality. And it's really the experience that is important, just thinking about it doesn't have the same effect

Thinking about what meditation is, and practicing meditation are not the same.

The thinking mind cannot simulate its effects.

The thinking mind assumes it is the whole mind. Meditation reveals it to be a tiny subset. Which cannot experience or simulate its superset.

A discussion at the level of this subset is by definition limited.

Among other things, the practice changes the meaning of “I”.

"there is no problem to solve" is a thought.

It becomes insight if it actually feels true.

"It feels like there is no problem to solve" is a synonym of being relaxed.

I thought the entire point of meditating was to realize you don't need to constantly solve problems, not to solve all of them.

Very western version of meditation to view it as a tool to achieve something with.

Meditation has many techniques. Similar to how people have many different motivations and programs when they have a regular gym practice. Strength is different to agility is different to flexibility.

For me a big factor is the way you become aware of the stress when it is absent for a short while. I felt a similar thing returning to work after the Christmas break. It's good to know about how you are feeling.

Meditation isn't an insight. It's a practice.

Your comment makes as much sense as saying that once you've moved the heavy weight to a new position there's no more need for weightlifting.