STOP… or don’t.

Can someone please explain to me the real purpose of a Yield sign?
It’s one of those things that has bugged me since I first began to drive.
You come to an intersection with plans of pulling out into traffic where there is a Triangle shaped sign that reads: YIELD.

Yield to oncoming traffic.
No, duh.
According the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV):
When you see the sign, you must slow down and be ready to stop to let any vehicle, bicyclist, or pedestrian pass before you proceed.
Sure, I don’t want to get hit by an oncoming car, or run over a pedestrian or bicyclist, but wouldn’t a Stop sign do that just as well. Instead of “slow down and be ready to stop”, why don’t you just STOP and look to see if there are any vehicles, pedestrians or bicyclists approaching?
You might ask; what if there isn’t any oncoming traffic, bicyclists, or pedestrians (electric scooter, or delivery droid), can’t I just pull into the traffic?
Really? Stopping for five second is going to make you late for work, or that hot date you have?
Stop, look about to see if there is anything or anyone approaching. For pedestrians you need to look both directions.
So, my question is; what was the Yield sign originally invented for?
A brief google search and I get my answer.
Apparently 1950, police officer Clinton Riggs, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was seeking a way to control traffic in a very danger intersection and so designed a sign that read: YIELD RIGHT OF WAY. You can read the rest of the history of the sign here one the website ‘Road Traffic Signs’.
The story still does not explain why a STOP sign wouldn’t have been a better way of improving the safety of that corner.