It's a beautiful dream, but I still think in terms of network effect (payment processors, integration with exchanges, global distribution, wall street and silicon valley interest, professional developer engagement, etc) bitcoin is far superior to anything else and will be for quite some time. Yes, the technology may not be nearly as good, but we've seen examples before where the tech doesn't beat the network effect.
That said, I sure like the dream. Unfortunately, so far, when the whole cryptocurrency space gets beat down price wise, STEEM gets beat down right along with it. As Steemit brings in more users and converts them to cryptocurrency users and (hopefully) a healthy portion of those become cryptocurrency investors, we may someday create our own powerful network effect.