The theory has always been that the altcoin ecosystem is a net benefit to bitcoin in part because new ideas can more easily be tried out on coins with small market caps. Then those ideas that have value can be integrated with bitcoin.

Kimoto Gravity Well is an idea that has emerged and been refined as a response to the rapid changes in difficulty various coins have experienced. Pools that hop around can leave coins stuck in a place where blocks only arrive after days of waiting, effectively killing their utility. It has always been assumed that as king of the hill that bitcoin is immune to the entire network deciding to stop hashing or go mine something else. However we're currently experiencing a moderate drop off in hashing power and blocks are taking more than 10 minutes on average. During the recent run up blocks were taking much less than 10 minutes on average.



I suggest that efforts get underway now to integrate the Kimoto Gravity Well in bitcoin before it is needed. It will help ensure consistent blocktimes which helps merchants and speculators predict the time to complete a transaction and the rate of inflation.

Here is a thread with much greater detail about KGW.