You have a severe lack of imagination. You must be fun at parties.
There are a myriad of ways Sweden can and probably is enforcing cashless trends through surveillance and coercion. Encouraging banks and retailers to refuse cash services, as referenced in the article, is likely done by the government. This enhances their ability to track and control all monetary transactions for any number of reasons (nefarious or otherwise).
I, and people I know, walk around with Air Pods in without actively listening to anything. Mostly because they're very light and it is easy to hear surroundings when off. I take one out when I talk to someone since this pauses whatever you're listening to, and I also do it when nothing is playing to signal that I'm not listening to anything other than the person in front of me.
It sounds like you don't have experience with redux and how it is used, which makes me surprised that you have such a strong opinion about it.
Redux makes available state that is required globally, like the contents of your todo list or other properties that must persist as you navigate a web app. Components will store their own state for their specific requirements.
I suggest reading up on redux use cases to find out more before dismissing it entirely.
While you're at it, watch this, it's fun (and related): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sENgdSF8ppA