@silverblade33;

Your post raises some interesting points as to where things will end up in the future...and you are very likely correct in the thought that the way we think of copyrights today, will not be that way in years to come.  It is a quickly changing world...of that there is no argument.

What I can say though is...that it is very unlikely that I will be around in the "100 or 200 years" from now...so....I can only live in the current timeframe....and with it, current copyright concerns.

Perhaps my posts are jaded...if they are, it is for good reason....because I have had my entire Terragen gallery "lifted" from Renderosity to find it re-posted on another artsite. Further I have had numerous of my Photos and Terragen works "borrowed" for someone else's gain.

This thread shows the diversity of thoughts on this subject...some folks don't care if their work is ripped....some folks are happy their work gets ripped....some folks don't even know they've been ripped...some folks are upset their works have been ripped...some folks are changing upload habits because of being ripped....and yet others will NOT post anything worthy of being "commercial".

The last segment should be perhaps the most upsetting....not only for those of us who enjoy art, but also for Renderosity....that is the people who have decided not to post their high quality works for fear of them being ripped.  I fully understand that attitude...and sympathize with those...but if everyone took that approach, ultimately the quality of work posted will suffer....and for that we are all poorer.

I don't as you say, spend a lot of time "worrying about some thieving scumbags"....but I would love to be able to view/enjoy someone's BEST work with a watermark.....rather than never having had an opportunity to see that work in the first place because the artist is afraid to post it .

In closing, as you said, yes...we are always in danger...do we all  live in fear...NO.  But we can do things to mitigate those dangers in our lives.
Similarly there are things that artists (and sites) can do to mitigate theft....surely you can not deny those opportunities to those that wish to do so.

In youth, we learn....with age, we understand.