Why? How often the first thing you do is look at the scroll bar and close a document because it's too short or too long?
If you're gonna read it you'll read it regardless of its length.
If you want to do anything else, like printing, you'll see the document size.
> to know what state we are BEFORE we interact with it
Why? If you open a new document you'll be at the top.
It's almost always immediately obvious that there would be more text.
If it's a previously opened document then you may be in the position you were in when you last opened it. In which case, you would remember that you're not at the beginning or end, and again it's usually immediately obvious that you're not at the beginning or end.
We come down to these facts:
- There's almost NO case that's ALWAYS improved by having always visible bars.
- Hidden bars always save screen space for more content and reduced clutter.
- Literally billions of people are fine with hidden bars (iOS, Android, Mac)
- If you need to see scroll bars, there's an option, at least on Mac.
Optional scroll bars are win/win.