Steemit was supposed to be a place where curators were financially incentivized to curate well, and creators to create well.

Now we have vote bots, which btw are specifically not allowed according to the white paper. Now everyone self-curates. How do you think this will end?

I think quality will keep dropping as long as the bots are used. Payouts will rise for a while, everyone will keep getting richer, until all the scammers and a lot of hopeful poor people are signed up, and all the artists have left... and that will be the end.