It's hard to deal with low-level code without resorting to pointers in some ways, though. I can't think of a low-level language that doens't use them, actually.
That's true, although you can always use pointers without pointers being a language-level feature. That said, if the programming language is designed for low-level code then pointers are beneifical in my opinion. But is Go really designed to be a low-level language? I don't think so, and if it is, I will stay away from it if I can..
Go is middle-level, lower than scripting languages, higher than C++. You have control over memory layout, which lets you use less memory than a language that boxes everything (like Java or Python). You can use linear structs, or references to data, whatever fits your problem best. But, to do that, you need pointers.
However, Go pointers can't be casted to another type and you can't do pointer arithmetic. In this way, they are very close to Java or Python references, except they're made explicit. How can these kinds of pointers be any worse than references ?
I get your point, although I think references are not that easier ; if one doesn't think what's happening underneath when using refernces, nasty bugs can occur.