Can you give a specific example of when a 100 BTC transaction includes more than 83 bytes of “essential data” in an op return? What is that data?

Essential means functionally necessary in this context. Functionally necessary is never subjective. This is a sort of semantic trick you're using to conflate the word essential with intended effect.

I appreciate Mises’ subjective theory of value. It accurately articulates the subjective component of value, and was a huge correction to Marx’s labor theory of value, but value, in our real lives, is neither purely objective nor purely subjective. it’s a both. And ironically, thanks to bitcoin, we know this100%. because of bitcoin, we need a firmware update to our theory of value. We have 105k word draft of a book doing just that :) big things coming To answer your question, there can only be one essence, one final end, one ultimate purpose. To say both things are “essential” is a logical contradiction. misses the principle entirely. Is the essence of the transaction to send the bitcoin, or to use the “arbitrary” data? what is your singular, ultimate purpose of transaction? you are the one that decides, it’s your actions. the protocol allows non monetary uses of arbitrary data. I don’t understand why people won’t just say it. are people scared if they admit they use it for non monetary use cases that a consensus will grow to change the protocol to not allow such use? i think owing the non-monetary uses, and being honest about it would help the community writ large. I think the absurd and logically invalid relativistic position of “i can’t tell what a monetary transaction is” or “i can’t tell what spam is” that makes a lot of people scared