Is there any comparative data on people trained with point-shooting to a significant degree, vs. aimed-fired? Would probably be hard to get a direct comparison, but they say "data ends arguments" (yeah right I know...
). I mean numbers of people, over a period of time, and real analysis of what happened.
We all tend to argue for what we know. Mr. Google will find anecdotal support of anything.
I have probably spent only 1% of my shooting doing anything like this, and it's mostly from retention (so no peripheral vision alignment of gun, just proprioceptive [body sense] aiming). It feels less "comfortable", though more intuitive in a way. I think to compare apples-to-apples (or apples-to-Applegate's) you'd have to practice a good bit and really test yourself.
I was skeptical of the modern isoceles until I read some very good discussion of it and actually received some hands-on professional training. Probably a good thing for people to be skeptical in general regarding defense, but things do improve. Trench warfare, anyone?
From a physiological point of view, it seems that there is an a priori reason to think point techniques might work. Why? 'Cause significant chunks of your brain are dedicated to (1) integrating positional feedback from your body into extremely fast responses (2) building visual-spatial models of the world in real time (why people can throw balls and predict ballistics so well, etc.)
An old friend of mine is not a gun person but a fantastic video gamer. He showed me some pretty impressive performance with an arcade shooting gallery once by extending his index finger and firing the pistol with his middle. He had a mental model of where his index was pointed. I am NOT advocating this as practical shooting, just noting the similarities. It was hard for me because it felt totally unfamiliar.
3D perception, distance, height, etc, actually have a lot to do with perspective rather than binocular vision (more useful closer-in), despite popular conception. That is why pilots can judge height above runway and why cats sometimes move their heads from side to side before they jump. The outline of the weapon in an intermediate-extension provides a rough index of barrel direction (e.g. fire just up from low-ready). This is the variant of point technique I was formally taught.
Food for thought. I sure haven't made up my mind, but I also think I haven't practiced point techniques enough to argue religiously against them for practical defense.