...So we'd have to split it up in some way, and maybe store a handful of copies of every file distributed across the network.
I don't think anyone is going to pay $500 to upload cat videos to the block chain.
Oh somebody DEFINITELY will. Rich people can be just as retarded as anyone else.
Ok right, and if you were a miner what would you do in that situation? I would print the cat video as a monument to that persons stupidity.
Somebody's gonna get the fee for it, might as well be me ;)
If blockchain works exactly as now, yes. But what if it was only partially duplicated, with perhaps 1000 full copies in total rather than one for each node (perhaps millions)?
As long as its decentralized enough yeah I could see there only being a few tens of thousand full copies. Storage is cheap and only getting cheaper!
