In this keynote presentation at JAXConf 2012, Douglas "The JavaScript Guy" Crockford asserts that JavaScript has become the most important programming language in the world.
"The first time I saw JavaScript in 1995 I thought this is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I said that. And I was pretty confident that I was right. ... In looking deeply at it I discovered it's got lambdas in it! Suddenly all this potential opened up."