I can't speak for anyone else but the nature of my content would change dramatically if I thought it could be paying out forever.
I would use it in the way an inventor would use a patent office in some cases. As a means to put out interesting new ideas. I would also have no limit to the amount of technical details I could provide.
But when the maximum I can make is $10 no matter what then there is no incentive to put months of years of research into a post. I might provide glimpses or put out bits and pieces but the incentive to put out a full novel or a full idea would only be there if people would know it's got potential to pay out for as long as it's useful to society.
@dana-edwards, I see your perspective and it's true. We deliberately break some posts because we are unsure whether it will have a good engagement. We only hope sharing the remainder later will make sense.