I think permissive licenses lack any pushback against proprietary network effects, and therefore are subsumed by them. One of the goals of the GPL is to cultivate a network effect of its own, to counter that of proprietary software. It's not that permissive licenses are better suited to become popular, but that they represent support of the proprietary status quo.

The GPL does create a network effect, but in a way which ends up excluding large chunks or ecosystems from professional developers.

Back when I was just a Linux hobbyist, I loved the GPL. Then I got a job as a proprietary software developer. Now, GPL just means "stuff I can't use at work".

I would love to try and convince my boss and coworkers to implement a project in Scheme. But because the majority of the packages for most Scheme implementations are GPL'ed, it's a non-starter.

So Scheme (and lots of other pockets of FOSS) shall remain a weekends-only pipe dream :(