My real hope is that eventually, you can use some higher-level language to write device drivers for things like crappy IoT gadgets using eBPF, without any chanc

My real hope is that eventually, you can use some higher-level language to write device drivers for things like crappy IoT gadgets using eBPF, without any chance of crashing the machine due to a pointer fu or so. Knowing that with eBPF I simply cannot crash the laptop I'm working on is a huge deal, and reduces the great psychological hurdle that kernel development always had (for me, at least).