That's fair enough. Which brings us, in my mind at least, back to where we started - with potential justification for calling increased characteristics either unnatural, or natural, since we don't really have a more detailed explanation of hermetic magic than calling it supernatural.
Which is to say, I don't mean to argue that the rules apply that it necessarily has to warp, but that they do justify warping if one feels that restricting characteristic increases is positive for one's own game. I'd rather not have boosted characteristics, mostly because whenever they come up in discussion someone raises a point like "every magus who wants to write books would pay for a +5 Com, so all the books should be really really good" or "for a couple extra magnitudes I can raise the Int of 100 people at once and get the whole tribunal up to +5". This never appears in published supplements, and I like keeping it that way.
In RL in the developed world it is possible for virtually everyone who wears glasses or contacts to have corrective laser surgery instead. However lots of people still wear glasses.
You don't need to explain why these things don't happen.
In today's real world we also fly around in airplanes, talk with people around the world on our computers, explore the secrets of atomic energy, and do all sorts of other things that don't match a.) actual medieval history, b.) medieval legend or ancient myth, and c.) the sort of fantasy novels which I enjoy. Hence the modern world is a poor model for the sort of game about medieval wizards which would appeal to me.
I'm pretty sure Richard was making a point about human nature and its interaction with what is possible in its contemporary setting, not espousing a technological era for game play.
I'm sure he did too but notice that in the modern world we do all take the perception bonus associated with improved vision, we just still usually do it with older technology, i.e., glasses, rather than the newer laser technology that is more expensive and and risky, despite generally ending up as a better solution. Nobody accepts poor vision by choice and in the developed world few are so poor as to have to accept it by necessity. In the 13th century even eyeglasses were almost unknown (and were only possible at all because optics had moved past the theories regarded as "real" in AM5).
If improved attributes are in practice so hard to achieve in one's saga as earlier posters have said, then it really doesn't matter whether they warp or not because they'll never come into play anyway. If on the other hand they're feasible within a typical saga, and many people on threads examining the Order's social structure argue that they are, then it's relevant to question whether superhumans fit the desired setting. I'd rather not have an Order full of authors with +5 Com, thinkers with +5 Int, and mystagogues with +5 Pre.
Exactly. Same thing with Creo rituals to improve stats. They are expensive in terms of vis. They arerisky. There is a non-trivial chance of botching (remember in-character magi don't really understand how and why they botch). They also do cause Warping (being high Magnitude spells); unless you invent and cast the spells yourself (or get somebody else to invent a specific version to cast on you). They are also expensive in terms of time; either you have to pay somebody else to invest the time and effort into inventing the spell, or you have to do so yourself.
Finally, improving your stats is not that great. Sure it is nice to have, but if you want to (say) increase your casting total it is probably easier to study the Arts you are interested in. If you want to improve your vision, it is probably easier to invent a low magnitude spell that does precisely that (similar to Eyes of the Cat), etc.
Even if Creo Rituals were always the optimal thing to be doing, real people make sub-optimal decisions all the time. Magi are likely no different.
That's not true though. A number of people, in the developed world, through either vanity, ignorance, or just because it is a low priority, do muddle through with poor vision (or at the very least out-of-date perscription lenses, etc).