I think that's a good point. Say it's your company, then you need to decide if you want to build the product in C# or Python. It's going to affect productivity,

I think that's a good point. Say it's your company, then you need to decide if you want to build the product in C# or Python. It's going to affect productivity, but it's very difficult to say how. If you pick Brainf* of course most people can tell you productivity will suffer, but in the C#/Python example you might start building in C# since it's what you're familiar with, then have problems recruiting developers in your area a few years down the line, since most people are now doing Python (say). Technically, your original choice might be "correct" in some ways, but who knows? Perhaps the discussion should revolve around how we make decisions better in complex, rapidly changing environments, with limited information? It feels like we're clinging to the need for things to be predictable and measurable even when they're not, and we end up in more or less delusional discussions about which of two almost identical programming languages is better, or even tabs vs spaces :D