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As I've mentioned before, sidechains would seem to provide a golden opportunity to monetize Bitcoin as a credible source of backing which they require in order to function. They thus have a significant interest in keeping it that way.
Right now Bitcoin is fairly credible to at least a cross-section of us in the community because it is free of interference (no 'red-listing', transaction discrimination at the mining level, etc.) Sidechains seem to me like the last best hope of keeping it that way.
My hope is that commoditization of ASICS and integration into heat recycling appliances distributed globally can solve that problem
I hoped for that as well at one point but I always considered it something of a pipe-dream. Under an 'only Bitcoin for everything' paradigm it's probably completely out the window for technical reasons associated with data distribution. With sidechains where people have a vested interest in reasonably finite chains of their favor, and where Bitcoin remains reasonably tight and compact, I could see more potential for such a thing developing.