I think you're right that most people weren't thinking this way. It's weird that the arguments a lot of bitcoiners make on the inevitability of the system, simulating it forward, did not include simulating the implications of limited block space. And yet the implications were there from the beginning. The bcashers at least have had a consistent approach the whole time, even if it's the wrong approach.

It's a deep question, for sure. To me, this is the most interesting -- and almost never discussed -- aspect of the whole btc experiment. Money is, at its deepest level, a social technology. Fiat, and our way of interacting with it, have led to a certain shape in society. Btc will lead to some other form, if it succeeds. But which other form? You can imagine a number of them, with vastly different consequences for the shape of society. Few people are talking about that, sadly.