" If current users win more but the top 1%'s rewards increase more than that increase of the median, we're going towards more centralization and not less."

This is mathematically impossible. If whales get more, the median gets less. It's just a mathematical function. The most recent graphic @arcange provided reveals that both the average and median payout rose, and this reveals that the average and median payouts are converging, meaning that whales are getting less rewards now, and plebs are getting more.

This isn't mandated by the rewards mechanism, but the result of restraint by the whales. They could change their minds at any time, or their stake end up in the wallets of those with less restraint.

The present system of DPoS governance is just incapable of ensuring decentralization, mathematically. In order to achieve robust decentralization, an additional metric(s) must be added to influence on governance.

I believe our present overlords are more benevolent than Sun Yuchen, and that is the only reason Hive is censorship resistant today. Unless we adopt a more robust governance mechanism, that is temporary, and that's just mathematical fact.