My response to @whatsup in a side-chain of this thread. It got cut off, so I'm posting here. @whatsup said:

What if all the bot owners power down, and there is no one to fund all this content?

Here's my reply:

Nobody can predict. Maybe influx of new users? Maybe drop in price of steem that allows others to buy more? Maybe steemit's brand value goes up, encouraging more people to use it? So many variables.

The problem is perceived unfair distribution of upvotes, leading to new users getting frustrated or simply dropping out. The goal is to keep whales and technically-savvy people from manipulating the system to their advantage. The intended result is a Steemit where rewards are distributed based on how much users like what authors post. Bots have value, certainly, but they also contribute to our problem, undermine our goals, and prevent us from getting the result we want. So, I’m advocating Steemit acknowledge this, accept a hard and risky decision to ban the bots, and hope that by staying true to the values we share and committing to the goals we share, Steemit will be better off for us having done so.