Exactly. The decentralized proof of work consensus mechanism that we refer to as “mining” is the innovation that both ties bitcoin to the laws of the limited physical world and prevents any one person/entity from changing the rules of the system that govern its monetary policy and how transactions are processed. To do away with mining is to do away with bitcoin entirely.
Discussion
I think part of the problem is the word “mining”. It’s really just transaction professing which happens to have a subsidy right now. We should start calling miners “block builders” or something which reflects their function better but that ship has probably sailed
