that it WOULD be monopolised by those with enough Hive in their wallets to change the narrative and people's voting, and engaging, habits.
But, only at the base layer. REmember that it is indeed possible to remove Hive as rewards on content at some point also, which means HIVE becomes a governance token and investment for security, not as an earn to sell token too. Splinterlands is a good example f how this works, since they don't rely on HIVE much at all anymore, but do rely on the blockchain. They also have to stake to use it and create accounts, which means they are involved in the governance (as witnesses too).
I wonder if those old days will ever retuen - but I doubt it, at least in the mainstream view. Still today, the largest money making business on the internet is the advertising revenue and associated data collection and selling.
As long as capitalism exists, the old days of the internet are truly gone.
That is true - the earn to sell model keeps many of us here, but it would be interesting to see what would happen without it.