Wouldn't be easier for people to just start over with a new currency than deal with a hard fork?
Exactly. The confidence in Monero after the hard fork will be shuttered. It's much better to admit it and try again with new coin than to let the whole concept limp in the future because of the initial design problems.
Are you guys serious? You really think if a better technology comes along, that it is easier to build that network out with a new coin (not to mention testing, getting a developer network behind it, promoting it, etc.) instead of just adding that to Monero, BTC, etc? And then rinse and repeat with each new technological advancement. That makes absolutely no sense.