@the way I think about #activitypub is as a placeholder for the natural evolution of the Web. Much bigger than "social" in the current narrow sense of "social media" and really about the shape of digital society.
Currently lots of complaints about it (imho quite deserved) but when focusing on the most important dimensions we need to average over the long arc.
If anything ever replaces it in a future of even more connectivity it will be a more "real time" protocol.