Is the only solution a complete abandonment of STEEM? Or will we see the need for new interactions rise from the transformation? This is a largely ignorant position, but I am of the mind, that despite modifications to the payout structure, individuals will still earn STEEM. However, such a drastic difference in the type of activity done to earn STEEM may level the playing field in a large scope. Couldn't it be argued that the previous reward scheme favored authors too greatly? That remains another topic for discussion, but I cannot help but feel that the impact of the change may not be as poignant as feared. If so, I can only recommend we adapt.
If this were true then presumably Steem would be swarming with high-quality authors who were creating content that was extremely appealing to the rest of the world.
Instead we have... well. It's pretty clear that Steem is not offering authors anything particularly valuable, and that the people in charge of it aren't interested in changing that.
So what do we have here? Why are there so many big accounts and so many little accounts? Who are the middle class, and where do they, if at all factor in? Since we're under the assumption, as you so aptly put, 'presumably Steem would be swarming with high-quality' -- but it's not, if I'm to understand you correctly. As a result, is this dystopia simply so rotten to a malevolent core that we should abandoned ship? Or is this rhetoric drawn out and overplayed that the STEEM engine is out of coal and fated to destruction so long as we keep going in 'this direction'?