I’m going to come out as a strong -1 for sneaking anything typing-related (even Any) into builtins. Python looks to me more and more like a language with type declarations as a builtin part of the language. It’s beauty has always been its simplicity. Such is, I’m afraid, not the case anymore. I believe it was Fredrik Lundh who opined that as a language Python reached its zenith in 1.5.2. That’s surely a debatable proposition, but I’m sure the Effbot wouldn’t be happy with “optional” type declarations at all.
I know I don’t count, but I thought someone had to lone voice in the wilderness on this one.