The downside of this (which Bitcoiners have pointed out many times) is that these adaptations are a centralizing force. Because this means that there is one ivory tower developer group that is creating the new tech that must be imposed on the whole network.
Bitcoin node operators / miners are meanwhile encouraged to run software that is at least a couple versions older iirc.
We should seek to minimize the reasons for which the whole network needs to hardfork, no?
Privacy, because it is an always moving target, will require constant hardforks. Better to keep it a separate technology so the monetary layer (core protocol) can remain as sound and minimal as possible. Remember that minimal = maintainable = anti-fragile.
@tromp thoughts on this?