Lets say this indeed was cataclysmic.

But can you imagine a possibility of building a system where the db that each person holds is not berkeley db or whatever but just plaintext and then writing your own functions to traverse the same.

I'll admit I do not understand the bitcoin core at all because I never invested time yet to read it. But I completely understand the blockchain algorithm and can write a cryptocurrency without even caring about what bitcoin did.

All I am asking you is do you believe that such a system can be built? Or do you believe that the current developers are intelligent enough that if they couldn't do it you can't do it either?