Quote from: brg444 on September 16, 2015, 04:40:28 PM

Quote from: coalitionfor8mb on September 16, 2015, 04:02:09 PM

One more thing.

Evolutionary stage transition we are currently facing with Bitcoin is where "sheer quantity" (of full nodes) becomes "higher quality" (of fewer ones). That's why evolution doesn't progress in a smooth linear way and has stages instead (nothing grows in a straight line). It has its own cycles and the limit in question serves as a barrier of some sort.

If we look at how stars operate (in outer space), we will see that they need to accumulate enough mass and build up enough pressure in order to be able to contain higher energy reactions and therefore produce heavier elements. At certain point they throw off their outer shell and begin attracting and accumulating new mass on the next level of their evolution.

Home-based demographic might constitute that outer shell for the transition process, but that's not the end of it, read on.

Please define "higher quality" nodes?

They will become those heavier elements (in star analogy), which will be able to handle larger amount of transactions and serve more end-users than the current ones. In the initial stages of the transition process people might want to crowd-fund and crowd-source a few full nodes for themselves (in the cloud) instead of running autonomous ones at home (jamming most of their internet daily use). By the time technology advances far enough (while the limit stays the same), people will be able to run full nodes at home again and the whole process will have to repeat itself.

Quote from: brg444 on September 16, 2015, 04:40:28 PM

Quote from: coalitionfor8mb on September 16, 2015, 04:02:09 PM

Without the limit the most productive players in the ecosystem will begin losing the background (against which they used to show how good they are) and instead form (and consolidate around) new clusters of gravity not accessible by the majority of Bitcoin's user-base. That's where the star of Bitcoin would begin falling apart.

If instead of removing the limit we simply move the existing one far (but still safe) enough (like 8MB), we will outline the new barrier to which all the players would rush racing against each other. Some will get there faster than others, but because the limit is static and firmly cemented into the brand (while the technology continues to improve), the rest of the user-base will eventually catch up and begin accumulating even bigger mass to facilitate the next stage transition.

And so it goes...

I wouldn't say 800% increase qualifies as "safe".

I agree, that stars aren't very safe during their transition stages, but that's the nature of it. It's really up to us (as a collective) to make it as smooth as we want it to be, but don't underestimate the gravity and the inertia of the process. Star transitions can be beautiful, but there is always an element of uncertainty in there. Oh, and you just want to have at least twice the theoretical capacity of your closest PoW competitor in order to stay in the game.