This simply isn't true. You open one channel and then payments are routed over channels to your destination. It's no different to TCP/IP in this way and the reason why that analogy is used a lot in describing the network
Having a one channel single destination can be done with Bitcoin alone and the new timelock transactions - the purpose of lightning is automating these transacations and the routing between channels
Opening a channel in lightning is no different to having a balance in a wallet or a bank account - you don't notice that it is "locked". Channels can also create other channels using channel factories[0]. This all happens under the hood much in the same way somebody accessing YouTube knows little about routing infrastructure.
There really is a lot of FUD about Lightning and they get repeated a lot by people who should know better. There is now a series of simple infographics that explain what Lightning is and how it works so there shouldn't be any more excuses for such simple misinformation being repeated[1][2][3][4][5]
Your specific claim about one channel = one receiver is addressed in [5]
I think the HN audience should go out and try it themselves and read the paper. It's the most eye-opening tech experience i've had since reading the Bitcoin white paper.
If you've been kicking yourself about not getting into Bitcoin early - you have a new opportunity with Lightning now. There are only hundreds of nodes at the moment and only a couple of vendors accepting payments on the testnet and a ton of opportunity to build an entirely new infrastructure around it.
[0] https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/67158/what-are-c...
[1] https://i.imgur.com/L10n4ET.png
[2] https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoindesigned-prod/media/what-are...
[3] https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoindesigned-prod/media/lightnin...
[4] https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoindesigned-prod/media/lightnin...
[5] https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoindesigned-prod/media/lightnin...