alt Hacker NewsLLM bashing aside (although I tend to agree), I agree with midnight_eclair. The claim that Erlang or Go are outright superior to the JVM doesn't really stand up. They're better at some things, and worse than others.
Regarding language syntax, it definitely matters. In the same way the vocabulary we use shapes our thoughts, the expression of a programming language shapes the implementation. Of course, as Clojurists know all too well, it's entirely possible to write Java in any language!
I don't think you, I, him and others necessarily disagree at all here, it's just that living language has defects and I can't spend 30 minutes clarifying beforehand like I am doing a math proof.
To me the strengths of Erlang BEAM VM and Golang's runtime nullify their weaknesses (and of course they do have weaknesses, some are pretty hard to swallow too). To me they sit on the positive side of "right tool for the job".
I just can't work with global mutability anymore. It's an endless hopeless pit of determinism bugs. I picked my battles. Respect to whoever wants to make a career out of chasing them but that's no longer me. I want to make measurable business progress when I work and not babysit defects that should have stopped existing two decades ago.
I can agree with other posters that the JVM has come a long way. I might reassess if I get the time. And I am not bashing on anything here. I am saying what my experience showed me. To me it's tiring to pretend that all languages and runtimes are equal and I'll keep claiming they are not.
As mentioned above: I don't think we necessarily disagree at all.