So then, how can garbage collection ever be solved if it’s a trade-off

And how can backends be abstracted away if there is a trade off?

As long as compute is a meaningful percentage of spend, the trade off will matter.

Right. So what does it look like for garbage collection to be solved? You’re saying it’s not ever possible

I am saying it's not possible for the foreseeable future, yes. The same way backends becoming an abstraction most developers don't need to worry about is also not going to happen in the foreseeable future.