It asks us to compare what we have with nothing at all. Of course it is easier to think of what we have -- it is right in front of us. But the alternative is not nothing, it is to create something new. And it is not beyond the wit of humans to do exactly that. (And is not one of the quite orthodox appreciations of capitalism that it spurs innovation?)
When a real physical constraint is lifted -- i.e. everyone can now communicate and copy as much info as they want -- the thing to do is spend effort inventing ways to realise this advantage. You do not spend effort inventing ways to stop using it, as the content corps want to -- it is perverse really, is it not? it is a degenerate economy that does that.
That's a little too glib. I think we are better off not looking for more ways to use our ability to kill more people faster. The right response to the atomic bomb wasn't to use it more, but to find ways to avoid using it.
I don't completely disagree with you, so I suppose there must be more nuance to it than either of us are picking up right now.
(A common answer might be: the bad effect is that it harms producers' ability to make money and survive. But this is circular: it only harms them because they are using a system that means they will be harmed.)
(A more sophisticated response would be to give the example of betting tips: there is info that is not really nonrival. But there we are not valuing the info as itself, but as it works as part of a system of rules of a game. That is not really like the info in question.)
It is reasonable to be cautious about practical matters, but these corporate interests have turned it into the grossest FUD. Ignore them and be forward-thinking.
Movie makers get a concrete source of funding, and a defined demographic to design for.
Movie lovers get the movies they love.
Of course, theatres---excepting small private showings--are cut out from this new model. Likely, everyone would turn to streaming movies.
I already purchase HBO---not because I cannot get their content elsewhere but because I want them to make more of it, and I know they take into account the tastes of their paying customers.