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That's a fair point, but it was an attempt to inject actual facts into a conversation full of generalities.

What the survey does suggest is a lot of people who used "non-conservative" languages in the past are now using Clojure. Maybe they all decided they wanted a "conservative" language, or maybe they think Clojure is "non-conservative".

Or maybe these labels don't have much meaning after all.

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A correlation between people who use a language and the previous languages they have used does not imply a correlation (or intellectual/philosophical inheritance) between the language under discussion and the previous languages used.

I've never used Haskell, so I can't speak the specifics of the observation. But I don't believe much can be inferred from the observation alone.

"A correlation between people who use a language and the previous languages they have used does not imply a correlation (or intellectual/philosophical inheritance) between the language under discussion and the previous languages used."

And yet, that is exactly the basis for Yegge's point: attributing a philosophical label based on a perceived (and incorrect) background for a group. Goose, gander. Kettle, pot.

Maybe these labels don't have much meaning after all.

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