> why python needs N built-in ways to [do something where there should ideally be only one obvious way]
It's the same every time: because some people are unsatisfied with the existing ways and want new ones added, but other people will rain fire and brimstone if you remove the old ones.
(BTW: the exact — non-obvious — way the dashes are placed for that line of the Zen is apparently a deliberate joke.)
> many recent Python extensions seem features in search of use cases […] The real problem with Python, of course, is that its evolution is largely driven by narcissism, not user feedback.
