Yeah, I can see that point. But I'm worried that if almost literally everything requires payment that's going to exclude a lot of people from being able to use the Internet. Especially those who are young or poor.

Lots would change with nearly all content being behind a paywall, for example it would make search engines even worse than they have already become recently: Sites would have to choose to make exceptions for them, which would have to be cryptographically secure - certainly not just a user agent, and with each site selecting which one(s) they allow, I would almost put money on that list being 1 or maybe 2 entries in most cases. Goodbye independent search engines.

It would of course end anything like archive.org, and most other places that mirror or proxy content.

I also find it difficult to believe that most users wouldn't be charged more in the end than they end up paying (to someone) currently as a result of seeing ads. I know seeing ads influences spending (otherwise why would companies spend money on ads) but when websites have the option to charge users more than they get from that arrangement, I'm sure the sites will take it.

Sure ads are terrible (especially for those who actually see them!) but they are a compromise that allows some freedoms I'd really miss.