[JoshTriplett]

I absolutely agree with you, and it seems worth looking closely at the problem to see if some change would make it easier to learn. However, the ownership and borrowing system represents the single biggest innovation and key idea of Rust, as well as the thing with the least ability to apply learnings from other languages. So while we should look closely at any roadblocks that make it harder to learn than necessary, we can't make it entirely transparent.