> and that is exactly what PFP does do

True, but 1/ with so far very little to show for it (it is easy to make easy programs easy; no one has seen PFP make hard programs easier) and 2/ I am far from convinced (although I haven't explored other avenues myself, as PL is not my field) that there aren't other approaches which do the same and are more compatible with how we think.

I think that other than the happy "coincidence" that is Curry-Howard, I see nothing in LC to suggest that it is the "right" way to model computation, and CH itself is just a form of verification (that requires programmers to prove their programs). Maybe it's the right way to do verification and maybe it isn't. Suppose Hoare logic approaches proved to be easy. Would people still see LC as promising? I think it's seen as promising just because verification is easier -- not because there is evidence to suggest it's the right way to express unverified algorithms -- but nobody has quantified the cost/benefit of various verification techniques (both formal and informal).

Other than the mathematical results which are to be expected to be found under this powerful lamppost, I see little evidence to suggest PFP is even on the right track. PFP has had one obvious achievement, though: thanks to PFP, there's a lot of research into type systems, some may prove to be very useful even in imperative languages (like Rust, although that language is also far from being proven, either, but I have a feeling we'll learn of its effectiveness -- or lack thereof -- much sooner than we will of Haskell's :)) But I find that achievement rather disappointing compared to those of the algorithmic CS disciplines (distributed databases, machine learning, JITs).

I do recognize that PL has a much harder time proving the worth of its results. A machine learning algorithm could be implemented in any language. Producing and then getting people to adopt a new language, in contrast, is extremely expensive, as it requires not only implementing the new work, but porting man-decades of work. But sympathy aside, as someone in the industry, I view PL research as that CS discipline that's supposed to concentrate most on the human side, yet contributed least to to our industry's achievements (while making more noise than most other CS disciplines).

And this is where I'd like to circle back to the original post and the discussion of whether PFP people are arrogant or not. I don't know too many PFP people with major achievements in the industry, but I don't suppose they are any more or less arrogant than others. I do, however, find it annoying (and ridiculous) to be accused by some PLers of having an anti-intellectual stance or refusal to try new things simply because I'm very skeptical of new languages. I and others like me are very quick to adopt new algorithms, but new languages are not only extremely costly to adopt -- they have so far delivered precious little more than big promises (but oh, do they love making those promises!). So if I were to describe PL researchers and PFPers in particular, I'd say they overpromise and under-deliver more than the rest of academic CS, and have certainly had the least impact on the industry. I can suggest (with little knowledge of actual facts) that the reason for that is that PL, as a UX discipline, should be most accommodating to human psychology, but in practice it is often as uncompromising as any other pure-theoretical field.