Whatever the direction, I hope it's sustainable and attracts the funding needed, through whatever channels available. Long term sustainability is important for people holding steem power, and to attract new buyers of Steem. I get what you're saying, but at the exits of the system there still has to be a value in everyday currency (like USD or some other currency or hard asset) or there is not a lot of motivation for talented content or DApp creators to use Steem. Of course on the other hand, in my own position as merely a casual blogger, DApp user (like Drugwars.io) and Steem Hodler, the opportunity for profit on the Steem platform has never been bigger, but like i think you're alluding to, its the value of the content that matters, not the value of the currency, but I just want to add that both value of content and the Steem Token leap frog off each other. Only the most desperate developers and content creators will use Steem DApps, and sometimes it attracts the content that no other platform wants, which makes Steem less attractive for the real talent. It really comes down to how much risk the real talent is willing to take with Steem and their own reputation, because their content will directly effect the value of the Steem Token, but the downward pressure on the price of Steem will negatively impact the potential profit that a DApp developer could have made if they looked elsewhere for funding.

I think my concern is that Steemit inc or others overseeing Steem's current iteration are skimming too much cream off the top, if you get my meaning. The overall capital sunk into the ecosystem needs to stay in the system or Steemit and the whole ecosystem is just a make-work project for Steemit Inc.