Except when there exists overwhelming consensus to enact changes, that is.
I am actually going to agree with you 100%. One such example would be quantum resistant protocol changes. That would focus minds.
Overwhelming consensus only exists on those things which benefit everyone pretty much equally, which was precisely the point that @dinofelis and I made about the game theory of PoW being crab bucket mentality.
And that is why you'll never see any consensus on block size or SegWit, other than to defend the status quo which is the Schelling point of the whales (i.e. pull everyone back into the crab bucket so nobody gets an "unfair" advantage).
Schelling point. Learn it.
Meh... even if it could be true, they can only play that game for so long before undermining the fundamentals so its pointless...therefore improbable.