"And of course, at the core of the debate, a battle for the soul of the protocol: what did Satoshi really intend? What kind of system ought Bitcoin be?"

The question that really should be asked is what happened to "Satoshi's" dream about a widely spread disparate by size and location collective of amateur miners keeping control away from States and State institutions?

The answer is: it's as dead as a doornail.

China or Chinese-connected operations bordering China's north/northeast control about 70% of hash/block creation. And Chinese operations control 90%+ of all rig ICs, rig manufacturers, and rig farm technology.

PoW is about as centralized as it gets. And China is not terribly favorable to the dollar reserve currency system. Where there's motive and means....