This is Ycombinator, a site for supposed future business owners. Yes, it's a bad thing.
"If a piece of content or a given website cannot survive without ads propping it up, was it ever worth anything in the first place? Ads are far from the only revenue-generating method available nowadays, they're just the easiest/laziest."
Sure. Instead, we will now have fully integrated advertising that can't be blocked.
Would you rather see an advertisement or an entire article on a blog centered around a product? The average consumer isn't going to take a stand on things like this because they just don't care. It will only pollute the content that you actually enjoy even more.
"There may be less content overall, but I suspect the content that survives will be much higher quality as a result."
Higher quality content doesn't pay the bills alone. I don't mind because my business doesn't rely on ad revenue.
However, when I see more and more people clamoring for something like a 'basic income', I really start to shake my head...because things like this are quickly destroying many jobs.
It's not the first time the tech community has dug their own salary grave and then cried out to everyone when they can't pay the bills or they lose their house.
This is why I'm not on the other side of this: I would rather take advantage of this foolishness than be forced into it.