The network throws out a transaction every 3 seconds on a good day. I could almost run that by hand with enough coffee in me.
As for the rest of what you're saying, what? Psychology doesn't change the fact that the network is doing absurd amounts of pointless busywork to decide you gets this round's shiny coins.
The whole network could be run on a NES if it was only about the transactions.
But its not about the transactions, its about the
trust.
Bitcoin is a human project, not a machine. Psychology is what matters.
Modern currency is fiat. It exists only through the trust of its users. But Wall Street and the Square Mile are not cheap to run. So bitcoin can afford its overheads. But as for the future, sci-fi writers could come up with some interesting dystopias based on feeding the unsatiable maw of the great deity BTICNOI.