> Pre-generics Java is about the appropriate amount of language complexity for our current lingua franca

I am not sure to whom you are referencing as being "our", so I can only say I disagree as there are many developers which are quite adept in languages having more complexity than "pre-generics Java."

Perhaps you meant to reply to a different comment?

It surely isn't mine, otherwise I wouldn't be happily using Java 13 right now.

Also even Google does have more stuff going on Java, C++, Dart, Kotlin and TypeScript than Go, which has more uptake outside Googleplex.

Java is tolerably mediocre now but vintage 1996 Java was awful (and slow). I enjoy Scala, but even I can see why it's more than most of the industry is ready for. If there's a sweet spot, Kotlin seems close to it.

Err, we had 10x times the features of "Pre-generics Java" even in 1970s Lisp and Smalltalk...

I will gladly trade a little bit more language complexity if it means the complexity of the code that I write using that language is simpler.

This. When a platform refuses to solve a problem, that problem doesn't go away. The users are forced to roll their own solutions, none of which have the same test coverage and optimization opportunities.

Generics don't make Java that much more complex for your workaday Java coding.

Speak for yourself.