I don't think there's much explanatory power here at all, actually.
Some of the most popular languages today, from a web development perspective at least, are JavaScript, Ruby, and Clojure.
One of them is an actual Lisp with full-blown macros and a lot of Emacs users.
The others are also extremely expressive, dynamic, and amenable to metaprogramming.
I don't think there's a single, simple, beautiful explanation for why Common Lisp isn't more widely used. Mostly it just has an undeserved bad reputation... partly because articles like this show up all the time, reinforcing the stigma of Lisp as a weird language for bipolar geniuses, or whatever.
Some of the most popular languages today, from a web development perspective at least, are JavaScript, Ruby, and Clojure.
One of them is an actual Lisp with full-blown macros and a lot of Emacs users.
The others are also extremely expressive, dynamic, and amenable to metaprogramming.
I don't think there's a single, simple, beautiful explanation for why Common Lisp isn't more widely used. Mostly it just has an undeserved bad reputation... partly because articles like this show up all the time, reinforcing the stigma of Lisp as a weird language for bipolar geniuses, or whatever.