I started programming in the 80s, and Go feels modern even compared to the mainstream languages of this era (mainly BASIC, Pascal and C).
It also feels modern compared to the first versions of Java in the 90s.
You don't like Go and I respect that, but Go definitely reflects its time, the 2000s, with its syntax, automatic type deduction, GC, gofmt, interfaces, goroutines, closures, built-in HTTP, built-in testing framework, etc.
more like the 60s, with a primitive type system, no metaprogramming, no interactive development, etc.
Go's answer to metaprogramming is source code generation. There are many problems with C++ but the existence of the template system isn't one.
Sure, Boost is full of metaprogramming insanity, but with today's C++ standard library it's not necessary to use Boost.
10 years ago template heavy code in C++ did suck, because we had slow compilers, dumb build systems, 7200 rpm HDDs and a need to use Boost to augment the bare bones standard library.
I'll be the first to admit that C++ has decades of cruft and design errors. But the metaprogramming works pretty well now. C++'s current problems are (IMO) weird undefined behavior, e.g. the distinction between POD and non-POD types; having both pointers and references, the ancient exception system, and in general a lack of tools for enforcing memory safety.
What we should talk about instead: hygienic macros in Scheme/Rust, AST-level modification in Nim, dependent types, etc. I think metaprogramming is an aspect of programming that should be explored more, and is definitely useful for reducing boilerplate.