If you willingly rely on someone to do something for you, are they in control of you?
Keeping in mind, if you don't like what they're doing for you, you can rely on other people to do that exact same job the way you want them to do it? In order to use Bitcoin effectively, there have to be miners and non-mining nodes securing that chain. But everyone has the freedom to chose which chain they want to interact on. So if the miners you currently rely on to use the chain you're interacting on, suddenly decide they want to use a different chain, does that sound like control to you? Or is that freedom?
Why can't you just rely on some other miners to secure your preferred chain and leave these miners to do what they want to do?
This entire argument seems to hinge on the focal point where people don't understand that miners aren't your slaves. It sounds like you want to control them, not the other way around. You people have the whole damn thing completely ass-backwards.
Think on that.
Users depend on miners for transaction confirmations. This is why, for example, if 99+ % of miners hard forked, that it would be coercive. Due to the difficulty algorithm, users would have no choice but to follow the miners if they want a functioning network.
It's not that miners are "slaves." It's that the protocol was designed to incentivize miners to work for block rewards because of
user demand. The way you frame this throws the incentive mechanism on its head.
And you propose we gauge
user demand by arguing hypotheticals for the rest of time? With everyone speaking for everyone else? The perpetual tribal conflict with neither side backing down, bickering for the rest of eternity.
Yeah... sounds like fun.
The only way this works is to get on with it and see what people actually use. There's also that tiny and persistent non-sequitur where people can't logically make the argument that "
non-mining nodes are vital and the network can't survive without them",
whilst simultaneously claiming that "
miners supposedly make all the decisions and the non-mining nodes are completely powerless to prevent it". You can't have it both ways, so which is it? My stance is that non-mining nodes
do matter, so if they don't support the miners, the issue should be swiftly resolved and the miners won't build a successful chain (but you still have no right or ability to deny them the chance to try, though, precisely because no one is in control of anyone). So again, let's just get on with it. There is literally no other way through this unless one of the two sides starts making concessions. I don't see any hint of that happening yet. So the two sides are going to do their own thing. And fair play to 'em.
Ultimately, it's still an issue of freedom and not one of control. Whatever else is said, nothing will change this. I'm mentally deducting credibility points from anyone who uses
those phrases. The "hostile takeover", "cabal", "benevolent dictator", "taking control", etc, because they all imply that the user of those phrases simply doesn't understand the core tenet of permissionless. Everyone does what they want. Qué Sera and such.
You always have alternatives, you just don't happen to like those alternatives as much as trying (and failing) to dictate terms and force your own views onto the miners.