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Simplifying the borrow checker is a slightly different question than simplifying "the language" (meaning the syntax and/or behavior of the syntax), because the latter can break backwards-compatibility (which is why it likely won't happen).

But the borrow checker is an interesting case because simplifying its rules in such a way that they're more tolerant (without sacrificing safety) might reduce cognitive overhead while still being fully backwards-compatible.

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The thing is, in some sense, the borrow checker got more complex. But because it accepts more programs, it makes programming in Rust feel less compex. This is related to the waterbed stuff I was talking about elsewhere in the thread.

There is a fine balance here, for example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22465409

Yeah ! That's was the point I was trying to make. It was a breath of fresh air when I switched from Rust 2015 to Rust 2018, without obvious change in the language from my point of view.

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