I don’t agree with core jumping from 80 bytes to 100,000…but eventually bitcoin will need this ability for zero knowledge proofs for layer 2 networks. I think they should have gone to 160 bytes and just watched and waited to see how it was used and what the consequences are. But please don’t forget, the real issue here isn’t about data, it’s about mining centralization…the status quo guarantees miner centralization in the long run.

miner centralization only matters when one of the pools reach majority. I don't believe that will ever happen. I can imagine that let's say 20% of home heaters use miners soon(tm). That's enormous amount of PoW. And Datum is a good way to give back control over templates to those miners and to fight centralization. BTC users won't join any pool nearing control. This core/knots fight is silly but I don't understand why core devs are so afraid of alternative client. It worked well for bittorrent, edonkey and many other protocols.