Interesting stuff. I'm not surprised. I have huge doubts about this whole approach. And I think in the long term the curation thing will drive the price of steem down not up. Why? Because as you point out curation is hard work. If you are going to do it properly you need to dedicate time to it. So you need to get paid. Which means taking money from the steem ecosystem. I also think that the people they curate (artists, etc) will take money out of the system because, hey they need to eat too. We have been sold a lie by these people. What I do notice is the people promoting the New Steem and running the big curation projects get high payout posts. What a surprise. Not.