I think this is a situation where the term systems programming is too un- or ill-defined to be anything but a semantic argument in waiting. I am not particularly fond of the broader meaning systems programming has taken on but I understand it. As a term of art for developers systems programming now encompasses:

   - infrastructure development like Docker and Kubernetes
   - general utilities programming like grep, terminal emulators, compilers, etc
   - performance sensitive artifacts like OS kernels, video/audio codecs, hardware interaction layers

and more in common usage. Without some sort of communal understanding of the taxonomy of development areas discussing things like GC in systems programming becomes tedious and often prone to arguing past people due to conflicting understanding of terminology.

I do think there are genuinely ripe areas of research and development for performance and determinism sensitive memory management and subsequent outreach to make sure the potentially effected developers and language designers actually have a chance to evaluate any advancements. But it sure seems like it would take an act of ‘developer congress’ to make sure people were talking about the same things.