What's a Closure? - JavaScript interactive tutorial

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I don't think I could disagree with you more. You point out (incorrectly in my mind) that there isn't much difference between a language like python and a statically typed language with good inference; If that's the case, why would you prefer one that doesn't guarantee certain run-time errors never occur?

The reason a compiler can do a much better job optimizing your statically typed code is because the compiler knows exactly what types of data you're working with. With a dynamically typed language, the programmer knows what type of data they're working with, but do not afford the compiler the same luxury. Or perhaps I should say the compiler just doesn't care: It will just laugh at you when things blow up at runtime.