Yes. Anyone who wants to be a central element of a multibillion dollar system is going to have to buck up for the requisite (and rather trivially-valued, in the scope of things) hardware to do so.
Bitcoin's dirty little secret is that non-mining nodes provide zero benefit to the network at large. Sure, operating a node allows that particular node operator to transact directly on the chain, so provides value to that person or persons. But it provides zero utility to the network itself. Miners can always route around the nodes that do not accept their transactions. Miners don't care whether non-mining nodes accept their blocks - only whether other miners will build atop their blocks.
And the number will not be ten - it will be many more. As again, anyone who wants to be able to transact directly upon the chain in a trustless manner will need to buck up to the hardware demands.
Thanks. If anyone wants to know what BU'ers think of what the system is and should be, I think I can now refer them to your post.
No, you may not. If you want to have a handy reference to what one BU'er -- namely myself -- thinks, then you can refer them to my post. I do not speak for others.
Do you care to argue the facts above? Or shall you just rely on crowd sentiment as sufficient to escape any reasoned discussion?