Is the issue simply that XMR's emission schedule isn't similar enough to bitcoin's?
Preface: I operate at about 1/10 the speed of smooth with <1/10 of his knowledge and what follows was written before his post. It is another side I have seen discussed and I wasn't even thinking of the mining aspect. Since smooth believes the value must increase in order to keep miners then what follows should be taken with that in mind. Also realize that I am not in anyway qualified to speak on the subject especially considering the talent in Monero. OK so why is this idiot doing so? Selfishly to help me understand it. Also I don't presume I'm the only idiot here so maybe they can learn something from the perspective of one of their own.
I'll give my observations although I believe you know more than your question suggests.
It seems the non selfish argument is along the lines of a) people don't want to buy a coin that is mostly mined. If that is the case almost every coin will have this problem at some point. What does slowing emissions so it takes another year or two really accomplish? I guess a better distribution but that comes from adoption because it is useful.
therefore b) they believe the time it will take for adoption to occur will happen at a time when most coins are already mined. This is due in part to the time needed to develop Monero to the point where it can be used by the infrastructure that also needs to be built.
I have no idea if the central premise is correct. For the people that will find Monero useful, will they really care if it is mostly mined? I understand Risto's concerns about this but I wonder if this is because he is looking at it from an investment perspective more so than the perspective of a Monero economy.