Is there any consideration given to the fact that bitcoin can operate as a platform for many other services, if it is able to be neutral to payload, as long as the fee is paid for the transaction size?
Unless I have misunderstood this discussion, it seems to me that this is a bit like saying in 1990 "IP Is only for email, the majority of users want email, we shouldn't allow video, voice or images". Ooops, there goes the web.
Is it possible to solve this by solving the issue of provably un-spendable outputs without foreclosing on the possibility of other types of transaction payloads (ie, not money), that would open the possibility for a myriad of layered apps above? For example, hashes of content that is external to bitcoin, that people want to pay to have timestamped in the blockchain, as provably unspendable outputs.
The social compact is to accept transaction for fee. I think it is a major mistake to make decisions that discriminate on the content of the transaction, saying that some uses are not appropriate. If the fee is paid and it covers the size of the transaction, why would it matter if it is not a payment?
I could be totally misreading this thread, too, so please allow me some slack if I have!