I think the problem is we have proof that if the penalty for falling/failing is "too harsh" they will stop pushing themselves. That proof is the quadrennial between 2006-2010. The proof is the fact that at the 2002 Games the men needed a quad in the short and two in the long just to even think about the top five, and then by 2010 a quad was no longer even necessary.
I started to say that in the 2002 Games, you couldn't fall on a quad and still end up on the podium, but then I remembered Plushenko. In 2002, you definitely couldn't fall five times in a free skate and walk away with a silver medal at a Grand Prix event.
They wanted to push the sport more technically after the Olympic results of 2010, and I understand that. But the rules as they are now have pushed things too far in the other direction IMO -- the splatfest at Sochi was a good example of that. Did any of the men complete two clean programs? I'm not sure what the best way to fix it would be. Increase the penalty for falls but increase the value of quads, maybe? There's got to be a happy medium somewhere.