I see what you're saying and I know a lot of the fear I have is somewhat irrationally based on the idea that my knowledge of JS should give me the ability to fi

I see what you're saying and I know a lot of the fear I have is somewhat irrationally based on the idea that my knowledge of JS should give me the ability to fix anything on the web - and you rightly point out that there already are a bunch of languages that compile to down to JS/EmScripten/asm - so what's the big deal? I guess for me, it's just the fact that they at least have to knock on JS's door on the way to the web - so, in a sense, as a JS dev you get the privilege of at least being there between COBOL and the web. I recognize that's a position of privilege and it always hurts when privilege gets taken away - it may be more in keeping with the spirit of the Web that COBOL devs should have just as much access to the platform - and an equal-access compile target - as I do. I know asm/emscripten are a "thing", but they seem like a foot in the door for the buffet of languages that want access to the web, where ASM is blowing it wide open. I'm going to cherish the time I have left with JS as the lingua franca of the web and just accept that the future of the web will be one that I can't read/fix quite as well because it's not possible to know every language and I need to be OK with that... and I think I am for the most part, I'll just miss the Web of One Language. Also - thanks for taking the time to make a thoughtful reply instead of just suggesting I'm a complete ignoramus and downblasting my response because we have a marginal disagreement about the Open Web Platform - made my day!