Think of the number of things you need to memorize to be an auto mechanic. Yet there are a large, large number of people who are capable of becoming auto mechanics, but not capable of becoming Haskell programmers.
...and since a programming language should be primarily designed for humans (or, as I actually see it, a programming language should be an interface between the human mind and the computer) and at the same time be executable by computers, choosing more memorization and less abstract concepts seems like a bad idea ...most smart people's minds find juggling abstract concepts easier and more enjoyable than memorizing rules (and when working memory is not enough to hold all the abstract concepts we're juggling, we use anything from pen and paper to other more advanced devices - just ask any mathematician), and those that don't are also those that "just don't get (or like) software", so they shouldn't be programming anyway.