> see the pace of Java development pick up so much over the past few years.

I don't think that is a fair assessment. Java / JVM has been steadily progressing in the past 10 - 15 years. From languages to different part of JVM. It is only getting the sense development being picked up because HN and other social media are finally getting the clicks and interest again. The pendulum swing back because of all of different reasons.

And in reality a lot of these recent landed improvement were 5 - 10 years in the making.

I still don't like its syntax though. But I am not even sure if it is even an issue in AI driven development era.