Here is the original GitHub issue on the question: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/15699 https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/15699 And an RFC by

Here is the original GitHub issue on the question: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/15699 https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/15699 And an RFC by some people that felt frustrated by this arguably implementation-centric view that kind of lost steam: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/issues/391 https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/issues/391 Intuitively, the bottom lifetime should the one that is uninhabited, which would be a lifetime with no extent rather than 'static.