The blockchain/social network can survive, and be useful to at least some people, without STEEM holding a significant value. No ads, censorship-resistant, decentralized, etc.
Or the opposite could happen (down the road) and everyone's moved on from this blogging contest to using STEEM as p2p cash. That's a very successful future!
Of course, we're all hoping for the best possible outcome. But it's a race against time, like with all these crypto projects.
Second-mover advantage can be quite powerful (ex Google).
https://steemit.com/div/@elfspice/announcing-div-my-project-to-obsolete-steem
RE: The ultimate dream for me would be a Steem blockchain that is so big and widely known that Steem tokens would be an acceptable form of currency (all the time).