I saw this and was going to respond to a few comments but then got pulled away by other things. I could feel your frustration! I am by no means as educated on Bitcoin or as deep into the rabbit hole but I think about these issues often (how to shift the perception problem). Two suggestions that might be worth pursuing:

#1. The fact that Bitcoin is not political and is a global currency/asset being added to the balance sheet of states, countries and large funds around the world. Most people have no idea about this, that Bitcoin is here to stay. To the layperson it's an energy intensive thing they don't understand that is controlled by billionaires. So I think it's beneficial to provide examples that counter that perception, like:

France Welcomes Reserve Bill to Purchase 2% of Bitcoin Supply
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/france-welcomes-bill-purchase-2-114624954.html

#2. Bitcoin as a counter to inflation. The rising cost of living is very real for most people. When I was in England in September I was shocked at the price of fish and chips, which used to be around £8 at our usual spot was now £15. I pointed this out to my Dad who was keenly aware and I referenced Bitcoin being a solution to these issues without going much further. A few days later, unprompted, he asked me to help him understand Bitcoin further. Here are some great commercials by Coinbase that speak to normal people:

'Inflated' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlsIYfZQ2pk
'All There Will Ever Be' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO7WYrekjKk
'Break The Cycle | Update The System' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4F9u8Z84YI
'Side Hustle | Update The System' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rZ9eqEm4L4
'Shrinkflation' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCezgOM7pVw

So those are my thoughts and ideas for reaching normal people.
-Tom

I don't think it's inevitable China will retake Taiwan. The operation in Venezuela will have given them cause for concern with regards to US capabilities, and now China, Russia and Iran no longer have ready access to Venezuelan oil.

You make a good point about refining rare earth minerals, but Tesla just put a lithium refinery in Texas online in 2.5 years so I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that the US can up its game here. That is, if a trade agreement is not reached between the US and China – which it easily could. Neither party wants war after all.

I don't think the US is reacting defensively per se – Venezuela was a very forward move for example – but I appreciate the steps finally being taken to reduce leverage and the potential risk to the US economy from a move on Taiwan. I also disagree the US is leaving the rest of the world to defend itself. Those may be the optics but they're not the reality. And the news about Europe's trade deal with India suggests they have finally realized they need to diversify their supply chain too, however long that will take.
-Tom

Not just yet. Pretty much everything the US is doing right now is to reduce that risk, reduce the leverage that China have, and deter or delay them from taking action in Taiwan. It will take time to bring large scale chip manufacturing back to the US, but it is happening. The same with rare earth minerals (see: Greenland). There is some time to achieve these things, it's not like the US is just giving up.
-Tom

My reasoning was that Trump is all about optics. He doesn't mind the optics of rowdy protests, since I think that on net it hurts the protesters more than him. But it's gotten to the point where he can't control the optics, and now American citizens have been killed.

I disagree with this, or, currently I do at least. The scenes of chaos and violence only help the far-left, and as such I place a lot of the blame on them for the recent deaths. I'm not by any means justifying the deaths, but the far-left's rhetoric of fear and 'everyone is a fascist' is at an all-time high and those that succumb to it are putting their bodies on the line and getting hurt. This shouldn't come as a surprise after the literal calls to put "bodies on the line" from Dem officials recently. It's very sad, and worrying, and I don't know where it ends.
-Tom

So everything in the FAQ about referrals is still correct?

3. Referrals
   Another way to earn sats is via referrals. If a stacker signs up through one of your referral links, you will earn 10% of their rewards in perpetuity. A referral link is any link that ends with /r/<your name>. Your posts, comments and profile are also implicit referral links. They don't need to have the /r/<your name> suffix.
   To make referring stackers easy, clicking on ... next to a post or comment and selecting 'copy link' will copy it as a referral link by default. You can disable this in your settings.

When I send someone a referral link or copied link it shows no reference to my name at all.

I know where you're coming from. I've had a similar awakening myself, albeit while on a different journey so to speak. It's got me really concerned about things I never thought I'd be concerned about – quite an unexpected a flip in my thinking that I credit to spending time on X. I'm grateful for the rewrite, or at the very least just being more open to other perspectives.
-Tom

Absolutely.

Correct, enjoy!

Might be Apple only right now, but it's in the app store. Just search for "Robotaxi".

As of today, Robotaxi is now live in Austin without the safety drivers, so there's literally nobody in the car at a much cheaper rate than Waymo.
-Tom

Really, you're not getting referral reward sats?

Thanks!

I really like #2.
-Tom

Thank you. I do have more, some from last winter also. I'll post them at some point soon...
-Tom

Thanks, it is!
-Tom

Following. Every time I have tried to set up a dedicated wallet for our kid (8), they are required to be 18. I just want a custodial account that's in their name which I can manage. Is that too much to ask?
-Tom