I'm certainly willing to withhold judgement on this. And, BTW, by existential threat I was referring to the community here.
As for the whitepaper and whales being charged with the responsibility of taking on a moderator like position in this way. Again, I'm willing to hold out on judging whether or not that's a good idea. It's a pretty different way of doing things than I've seen before. Maybe the fact that the whales have to make a sacrifice in order to exercise that power is an appropriate way to go about this. My mind remains open.
Thanks for your perspective, it really gives me food for thought.