There is software which is already so optimized at the algorithm level, you have to use a low level language to fully exploit the hardware. For example with vid

There is software which is already so optimized at the algorithm level, you have to use a low level language to fully exploit the hardware. For example with video games; if you can cram more/better content or achieve higher simulation fidelity/tickrate you improve the game experience and developers compete on that. These are programs where selecting a different instruction to split a loop-carried dependency makes a significant difference. Data is carefully packed and reorganized between passes to optimally match the cache hierarchy. Good luck selling these developers uncontrollable per-access indirections and thunks. Furthermore, this kind of code barely uses malloc/free, preferring instead to use custom allocation patterns tailored for each use case. If you replicate that in a higher level language, you effectively do your own memory management within a large block allocated by the runtime. So you are liable to write all of the same lifetime/indexing bugs in while using your shiny "safe" language.