This is a for-profit, centralized mindset that completely misunderstands what nostr is, and how it works. There are thousands of free relays run by individuals. People aren't going to suddenly stop running relays. As nostr use grows, so too will the number of free relays. I'd say free relays are the glue that holds nostr together. Sure, lots of people go on to subscribe to paid relays, or run their own paid relay, but free and open relays are absolutely necessary to handle new users, and supplement paid relays.

There's no pressure on this system that would make it dissappear, so this idea that nostr needs to centralize and become a paid service is ridiculous. People aren't going to pay for relays before they've had a chance to actually use nostr. And if we only had paid relays, the active user count would plummet. I wish people would think before posting declarations about what is needed.