Yeah great comment man.
I agree with you that there's so much more compassion and interconnectivity among the lower classes of society. Stemming from appreciation for the little one has. It then blossoms as a natural desire and instinct to share with others.

Reminds me of (before war ravished the Middle East) the hospitality that would be expressed by people in humble living conditions to make you completely welcome. Polynesians also have that trait, that in their homes (both in Western society and their Island homes) they are very sharing with their food and make sure you're completely overwhelmed with choices.

I think this place desperately needs that second layer (SMT) implementation. Also @edicted has suggested he has some solutions so maybe he and others will rise to positions of change-makers like you suggested. I also have some ideas but don't word them because the system just isn't fundamentally able. Rewards on that second layer will undoubtedly "force the hand" of bag holders to put their investment into thriving second layers.

Leofinance for instance, shows that the community once moving, sees themselves reaching greater heights. Unfortunately though, I don't see hive-engine and any tokens on that as robust enough to grow beyond the Hive bubble. It's still essentially just a closed tribe that is like a siamese-twin to the Hive chain because it's heavily just about crypto and speculative wealth.

The Art community and also makeup community though, those could really explode in the wider internet. Yet they aren't able to really do that while again, they too are just existing as a tribe in among all the other tribes/communities competing for limited rewards. The people though are the true value so it's only a matter of time before that takes on a snowball effect. So again I say second layer is critically needed already (@blocktrades when second layer?).

Hey it might even not even be here.
After all, this isn't the only chain that's trying to figure out mass social. If some other visionary chain figures it out. I see mass exodus. Well exodus. Because mass just isn't here. It's early days really I always saw steemit descending into this microcosm, mirroring the real world's distribution of wealth. The Digital Rio De Janerio.

So really if there's something to be learnt so far. It's how NOT to do things. I'm not completely pessimistic though because the shining positive: from beginning of steemit to Hive is that it at least requires human created content to exist as the meat of the platform.