Lisp has a closed future where it stagnates and fades to obscurity.
Lisp has an open future, where it learns from Python, C and Rust.
Lisp has evolved over time. There is no point to holding on nostalgia and the 'past accomplishments': having a false
sense of superiority is not conductive to progress.
You have to admit flaws and 'strange limitations' exist before
being able to correct these flaws.
Syntax is the face of the language, it is important and influential in
the perception of the public: 'Syntax sugar' is required to compete vs generation of languages which are built to maximize
the friendliness of their interface. SRFI-110 is the most promising path i know and Python wouldn't be special without this syntax:
Python would be another obscure scripting languages of the 90's.
Performance matters: given all equal factors the faster and less resource intensive software dominates. C/C++ ecosystem relies
on optimization to win benchmarks and hearts
of developers who value hardware resources. Being disconnected
from reality of hardware limits inhibits optimization.
Stalin Scheme is the only viable compiler that can compete with
C/C++ optimizations.
Ecosystems and network effects matter:
Having a standard library format or central package repository
magnifies the capability of developers. Instead of reinventing
wheels every day, code is reused and software is composed from
portable elements. Package repositories and standard package formats are essential for a language ecosystem.
Lisp badly needs standards, package repositories and community websites: have elitist lisp weenies dictating everything leads to stagnation and fragmentation, as everyone tries to make his perfect lisp/scheme which others don't accept as perfect.
Self-hosting OS development is much each when above
problems are solved. Don't have a 'complete independence'
as a first goal, interoperability with C/C++ is good - all software
can be ported to your ecosystem once the foundation is stable.
When developers migrate towards this 'Open Future Lisp' the question of interoperability would be inverted as C/C++ would
forced to interoperate with the dominant language as a neccessity.