The main thing that makes the sovereign network slow is Tor, but Tor isn't a dependency of lightning - IP is. Better, faster overlay networks will emerge. .e.g. @l0k1 is working on Indra. VPN-like services will improve. NAT holepunching will improve.

If we acknowledge slowness is a problem, it's hard for me to imagine we just accept the problem and don't solve it.

I don't want to minimize threats/problems, but maximizing them by assuming software stasis is sillier.