Hello @theoretical!
I really love your idea of seeing beyond the current blockchain possibilities of tweaking things! I observed last weeks very carefully and I have got an idea to radically change the game. I'm not a programmist so I have no idea about the possibility of implementing this but I see potential in making blockchain adaptative to its environment. The environment of blockchain is a token price, amount of users, the activity of users, a level of decentralization (probably Gini index?), basically anything that impacts chain while being changed. Let me give you an example.
When the token price goes down an algorithm makes it more profitable to hold for users. Or when there are more very powerful, wealthy actors on the stage, the voting power coming from SP would dropdown. This would require adding some non-SP factor for voting power, and I believe it would make the whole network more resilient against hostile takeovers. I've got a few more ideas in my pocket but this format is non-favorable one for it. Also, I would love to get in touch and explain it in more detail if you would be interested in this idea. Thank your for your time and effort to make this space better. Cheers!