It’s clear to me that human-meaningful is the one to drop.
Status messenger has a nice naming solution. They give everyone a three-random-word name when they join (an Ethereum pub key is under that of course). Then (1) your friends can assign to you their own nickname for you, or (2) you can buy an ENS name that is globally findable.
I think of this basically like car license plates. You can optionally get a vanity plate.
Another project that I love is BrightID. It really embodies the idea that we don’t actually need a global registry of names for most use cases. Most of the time we just want to know if someone is legit or not. A web of independent Rolodexes is enough to determine that.
>As a solution to this dilemma, some advocate strong "non-moral" stances (ala "free speech") where everyone can do as they want, unrestricted
Since when is that the definition of free speech? Free speech has nothing to do with a lack of repercussions to what you say, and especially do, it's about having the right to say things, even if disagreeable, without systemic silencing or punishment from a higher authority. It doesn't mean you can't shun the crap out of people saying dumb shit though.