That's a good link there. I think the answer to a smaller Rust is Go, however. The comparative compiler speed alone is worth the price of entry. Don't @ me ;)
Smaller Rust is more like OCaml than Go IMO. Go has an entirely different design philosophy.
Go may be smaller than Rust, but I really don't think it is a smaller Rust. There are too many differences in the philosophy, and they make Go just some other language.
Go is so much smaller its no longer anything like a smaller ruts, though.
Or, is Go bigger because the GC represents a ton of complexity?