> Seems like it's a trade-off between hack-ability and robustness.

Precisely. This is where Python's "We're all adults, here" philosophy comes into play: just trust me with the footgun. I'll take responsibility for the risk but dammit, if I'm not going to be pissed when I can't do something I know I need to do.

Maybe it's the distinction between "languages for large teams of mediocre programmers" vs "languages for hackers or small experienced teams"