I doubt it would work out. The engineering cultures could not be any different.

well bun could 'gradually become deno':

1. add 'enhanced security mode' that's actually 'deno-compatible/like' (permissions, etc)

2. mark libs/executables/etc as 'enhanced security compatible'

3. ...merge by buying out deno?

> The engineering cultures could not be any different.

A Bun team willing and able to execute your plan is not one willing to merge a vibe-coded rewrite in a couple weeks.

I think different cultures can contribute to eachother, they don't have to hold hands. I'm sure open minded curious developers can look over the fence and appreciate the differences and adopt practical aspects of each other, maybe the time to stop and smell the roses is to poetic and altruistic. It's a JavaScript server/packager/framework drag race for pink slips!

They may share some goals, but also have differing and opposing goals.

But it's possible that all 3 Deno, Node, and Bun could share some code in the future considering they now all require Rust as part of their build process.