The REST interface is designed to be efficient for large-
grain hypermedia data transfer, optimizing for the common
case of the Web, but resulting in an interface that is
not optimal for other forms of architectural interaction.
When a link is selected, information needs to be moved
from the location where it is stored to the location
where it will be used by, in most cases, a human reader.
Yes, it's obviously the primary use case, since REST is modeled after HTTP. But the keyword is primary - it doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be used for machine-driven workflows.
It certainly sounds like "human browsing" was the primary use case. Unless I missed something?