> I've been paying less and less attention lately because he explains the problems of virtually any language, then explains how his language solves it all perfectly.
I seriously doubt that he would say that his language "solves it all perfectly." He's still making changes to his language to fix things that don't work right or to change his language to implement features that either didn't exist before, or don't solve the problem as he now sees it (which is different than how he saw it when he initially implemented that feature).
> I am personally incapable of taking firesale arguments like that seriously.
I would challenge you to understand how Jonathan Blow talks. He says what he says, and nothing more. He does not give you things to read "between the lines" or anything like that. He says what he says, and if he did not say some thing, he did not mean that thing, barring mistaken speech, of course. He also continually learns and adapts what he says, which can appear as if he says one thing on one occasion and something different on another, which is of course what happens to anyone who talks about things as they are learning those things.
> Rust has a place alongside Jai, they don't have to compete.
This is, of course, correct. Jon mentions Rust as he does because it doesn't solve the problems that he (specifically) has. Rust is just not an option for him, so he's creating something that is an option for him, and for other people who value the things he values in a language. I don't think Jon will lose any sleep at all if you don't like his language once it is generally available.