“And so the median language, meaning whatever language the median programmer uses, moves as slow as an iceberg. […] Obviously, the median language has enormous momentum. I’m not proposing that you can fight this powerful force. What I’m proposing is exactly the opposite: that, like a practitioner of Aikido, you can use it against your opponents.”
“[…] when our hypothetical Blub programmer looks in the other direction, up the power continuum, he doesn’t realize he’s looking up. What he sees are merely weird languages.”
Paul Graham (April 2001, but current as ever)