I'm thinking somewhat along these lines too. I feel like the protocol, even in its earlier stages, is enough to enable some fantastic and scalable use cases. If the protocol doesn't need to further develop then clients can't so easily be accused of siphoning off development resources from the protocol in a zero sum game.

The problem as I see it is that Twitter-style microblogging, or what they call "Big World" over at ATprotocol to emphasise the consistent global view, isn't one of those use cases. If the end goal is to be at least sort of like Twitter (plus censorship resistant, etc.) then the protocol will always be demanding of more resources, as we'd basically be asking magic of it, and the zero sum game would continue to be played day in and day out.

It's a tough one though because Big World microblogging is part of the founding ethos of Nostr, and even if it turns out that Nostr unlocks a alternate use case, and that use case is glorious and successful, it might still feel a little like things went off the path.