I wasn't one who downvoted you, but I think the problem is it felt like you were taking quotes out of context in order to start a flamewar.
It would have been interesting to hear Matz elaborate on what he thought of Clojure, since it sounded like he was looking at it too much from the point of a language geek and not someone who ever wants to use it to make something real.
In that case i apologize if what i say has seemed offensive in any way.
I don't mean to flame on ruby, i think it's a good language, that i certainly enjoy using. What i intent to say is that if Matz looked at his own language the same way he looks at clojure, he wouldn't find anything new. There is nothing wrong with that in my opinion. It's also something that is stated very clearly in Matz intents regarding ruby.
So i guess the very point i want to make is that, if Matz is searching ways to improve ruby, and it looks like he is, i think he shouldn't only look at languages who have interesting 'new' features, but also at the way new interesting languages combines 'known' features, because it's often enough to create a totally new workflow for programmers.
It would have been interesting to hear Matz elaborate on what he thought of Clojure, since it sounded like he was looking at it too much from the point of a language geek and not someone who ever wants to use it to make something real.