It would have been nice if I had realized this aspect of technological evolution earlier in my career. I might have spent more time learning about marketing than about the actual technology.
The ultimate killer argument is always "does it improve my CV?"
CV driven development is usually the reason for questionable technology choices
So the old-timers remind us, "Choose boring technology." Reliable and boring is a good thing.
On the other hand, I recently started learning Bun, and oh what a breath of fresh air, it makes things fun again. I love that its codebase is so readable and small still, and everything is freshly designed with the insights of experience and hindsight. It doesn't have the accumulated cruft, years of decisions and compromises.
So, sometimes it's great to shed the old and grow with the new generation.
Brand reflects a project's philosphy. Deno is thought to be easy and simple, and the "childish" branding reflects that.
So you may not be wrong at all in your criteria. Subjective human communication can be more effective than objective communication sometimes ;). It just works at a different level.