IMO, the current curation system is rigged toward whales and bots

Curation rewards are only a part (and a small part at that) of the curation system. The larger part is author rewardshhich is which are way more rigged, and bigger than curation rewards by a factor of probably close to 7:1.

The guy with 30 steem power, unless hes incredibly lucky, earns no curation rewards at all. Remember if its under 2 cents they round it down to zero. Id be curious to know what the least amount of SP anyone has ever earned a >2c curation reward with was (in current times since steem has been valued at 10-20 cents). If i had to take a stab, id say in the vicinity of like 300 steem.

Then again, its debatable whether brand new users with 30 free steem power should be earning any curation rewards at all. I don't think curation rewards (as they exist now) are a viable steem entry point -- im just not sure they were ever intended to be. I think new users should have opportunity here, but every single feature or reward does not need to be geared to convert new users to investors.