Whether authors should receive rewards is a question of Steem's values and purpose. If Steem's content creation community is an important part of Steem's value proposition, then it should continue to be rewarded.
I believe that it is, and I've put a massive amount of time into building something that strengthens and supports it because of that believe.
My project acknowledges that the value implicitly belongs to the curators by default, and turns that on end by making the creators into indirect curators - using stake and leverage to create a permanent support base for content creators that participate. Curate somebody once, but for a much more meaningful amount than a single upvote, and that somebody receives ongoing support for as long as they are active - but it's entirely stake-driven, which is why the people that are the most generous in enrolling others are still earning the most. And in case you didn't notice... it's a 50/50 model and works really well in providing incentives for people to curate accounts instead of content.