And if it's in the image you get to do the programming in Smalltalk rather than C or Slang, which is more fun for most of us. And, let's face it, fun is an important metric in an open-source project -- things that are fun are much more likely to get done.
+100
The VM *is* developed in Smalltalk https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328509577_Two_Decades_of_Smalltalk_... <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328509577_Two_Decades_of_Smalltalk_...> It is not the point of the message of Martin. I imagine that Martin and Sven understand it perfectly that the VM is written in Slang and that there is a simulator. Still many of us agree with their analysis. The VM logic should be on execution and try to delegate to the image most of the rest.
Stef