The core insight here cuts through all the noise: you can’t out clever thermodynamics. Every spam filter without cost becomes a centralization vector. Whether it’s Google’s servers deciding you’re human or some council deciding what “legitimate”Bitcoin usage looks like. The genius of fees isn’t that they’re perfect, it’s that they’re the only decentralized solution to the spam problem that doesn’t require asking permission from anyone. Either pay in energy or pay in trust. Pick one.