"But after an initial learning hump, I don't fight the borrow checker anymore" is quite common and widely understood.

Just like any programming paradigm, it takes time to get used to, and that time varies between people. And just like any programming paradigm, some people end up not liking it.

That doesn't mean it's a "free lunch."

I'm not sure what you mean here, since in different replies to this same thread you've already encountered someone who is, by virtue of Rusts borrow checker design, forced to change his code in a way that is, to that person, net negative.

Again this person has no trouble understanding the BC, it has trouble with the outcome of satisfying the BC. Also this person is writing Vulkan code, so intelligence is not a problem.

> is quite common and widely understood

This is an opinion expressed in a bubble, which does not in any-way disprove that the reverse is also expressed in another bubble.