The point of the difficulty bomb isn't to put a deadline on the developers, it's to prevent a situation where node operators get complacent and stop updating th

The point of the difficulty bomb isn't to put a deadline on the developers, it's to prevent a situation where node operators get complacent and stop updating their nodes. It forces node operators to come to consensus on whether to fork alongside the developers or to fork in a different direction. It removes the option of doing nothing and letting the Ethereum chain stagnate.