Rimmy

So you'd happily lose the fame and money in a heartbeat because that's not the reason you're doing it right? Neither of those are my current goals but let's not pretend here that the end game isn't inspiring a community AND being able to make a living off your passion--

Having the nerve to tell small channels how to react to this change when you're an already established channel, who gained their fame before this change, is disgusting. You've ignored the fact that this is going to make it much harder to get discovered, regardless of your motives

Channels that are below 1k subs are not making the views required to actually even get paid by YouTube. No-one should start YouTube for the money - it's a terrible life choice, and down to luck most of the time. But, if you succeed at it as a hobby, it can become a job.

And you'll find that very few channels hurt by this change did start for the money, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with remaining hopeful that it could one day become a job, or is it a terrible life choice to hope you'll one day be paid for doing something you enjoy?

No. Again, nothing is stopping you from hoping that one day you can live off of YouTube. This change will not stop you from making a living - because literally no-one with less than 1k subs is making a living from YouTube.

Again, the issue is not making a living, it's being noticed so that your channel can grow and see more and more people enjoying your content. You're missing the point here completely and focusing on the money, just like YouTube themselves.