You can not secure a network of trust and confidence on human greed. Eventually it will consume itself to the point where only the most aggressive, ruthless and cunning players get to reap most if not all the benefits. [...]
100% this. So long as mining revenue (from any source, past or present...CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, ASICS, etc) exceeds the cost to generate that revenue, mining power will continue to be centralized.
And why wouldn't it? If you have a piece of hardware that earns you $1, but you find out you can earn $2 if you move it to an area with slightly cheaper energy costs, wouldn't you? Continue that trend on scale - develop more efficient hardware, move that hardware to cheap power sources, find ways to reduce any and all expenses, and suddenly you'll find yourself operating a monstrous, profitable mine that no amateur can compete against.
The only way to stop that trend is if there's some sort of financial disincentive to consolidation.