I'm going to bet a large portion of reddit's original users were people from sites like 4chan (not just /b/) who simply grew up or didn't like the wild-west feel of it, along with media failures like Digg and etc. For example, 4chan as a whole is a shell of what it used to be since reddit came out. I think reddit serves exactly as what it says it does: it's a giant start page for people looking to entertain themselves on the internet. I'm amazed sometimes that some internet users have never been to reddit before.
That being said, would I feel bad if reddit died or would I support reddit? Nope. I hate the culture and the only reason I visit it is because it narrows down my wasted time between content. When I get off track I can go to the science section and mindlessly watch videos all on the same topic. That to me is the sole purpose of reddit, along with other forum-ish aspects. I do find certain subreddits to be much more helpful for life advice than ATOT in terms of discussing real-life matters. Some of the topics on here get derailed on ATOT so fast by retards.