> Couldn’t a Lindy enthusiast have gone “umm but isn’t Java too new and shouldn’t we just stick to C which is well trodden and understood??”

I think people often misrepresent history because they view it with the benefit of hindsight. People who chose to use Java didn't do it to embrace a revolutionary idea, they were embracing an evolutionary one. It seemed like a natural optimization step, rather than a clean slate.

Most Jave devs were proficient C devs who found the idea of a platform independent C quite appealing.

That's the Lindy effect. C (the essence of it) survives in Java and right up to JS/python/go.

In contrast consider Pascal, Fotran, Perl, COBOL, (and dare I say ... Lisp ?)