It's not easy to find good content on Steemit, even from people you know. From people you don't know, it's sometimes a needle in a haystack. This is where I feel Curie does a good job. It incentivizes people to find and submit good posts. This is its strength. It's where Steem fails in curation rewards. They're just not enough unless you have a large-stake account, which is not easy to come by.
And of course the upvotes to reward people for writing/making/sharing their good posts goes towards the ultimate goal of Steemit, probably keeping many people from being discouraged and disheartened.
Yup, curie enables curation rewards for the little guy.