Are Apostrophes Really Necessary?

I'm (Im) undecided. Matthew Malady in this article seems to think otherwise. The general argument for eliminating apostrophes in the article is the fact that while reading we can put things into context, which should fairly quickly eliminate any confusion. The main argument for keeping them is pretty much the opposite; we need apostrophes to help avoid confusion. User "kinnaq" on reddit (yes, I'm quoting a reddit comment) gave a pretty good example of what could happen "Well well have a tougher time reading some stuff. Were wont to change stuff for the sake of changing stuff, but we arent sure we wont regret it." Gotta admit though, sentences like that are pretty uncommon.

I personally am a fan of correct usage of apostrophes. I do have to wonder why though. Is it because they really are all that important, or is it because I feel like it just feels wrong when they're (theyre) misused?  The English language is changing, it always has been. It's (Its) been around for hundreds of years, and if we were to try and read English from 600 years ago we would have a pretty hard time. Conversely, English 200 years in the future would probably be pretty hard for someone from today to understand.

What I feel the debate really comes down to is "Do we embrace change or don't (dont) we?" Will we really miss the apostrophe, or will we get over it (as a society of readers/writers, I know some individuals never will). I personally will continue to use them unless they somehow get completely phased out. I will probably always feel a little bit weird when they aren't (arent) used when they should be.