Physical money has value because we have an economy. If you have a USD, you can come to the US and spend that dollar. Bitcoin doesn't have an economy, it is literally a meme. The only thing you can do with it is trade it for real money.
The value of USD is based on the US economy. The value of Bitcoin is based on people's perception of the value of Bitcoin.
I said it was hard to develop a nation in the desert, I didn't say it was impossible. Israel is a world leader in agricultural technology [1] precisely because of this problem.
Israeli intelligence is working around the clock to disrupt the actions of terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. There are countless terror factions who's sole purpose is to destroy Israel and execute a second Holocaust. You don't hear about the terror plans which were foiled. You don't have sympathy for Israel because they are winning.
I'd like to propose a new law of the internet: Anti-Zionists cannot see a post about Israel without making a comment about the Palestinians. Weren't we talking about land area?
There is a moral obligation to blackmail people who have material information about an imminent terror attack, or anything else which may threaten innocent lives. If I were you, I'd be much more concerned about why being exposed as gay in the Palestinian Territories is a threat capable of flipping an asset.
Why invade a country, when you can shut down its infrastructure and force them to surrender? War isn't won by killing, its won by conquering. I also suspect that machines will be so effective at killing, that you won't be able to find soldiers stupid enough to fight them head to head. We have yet to see the full capabilities of a cyber super power.
Writing code is a great way to make money in the desert. Israel is essentially an island. Also, warfare in the future is likely to be primarily digital, and Israel has many enemies. Israel will lead the cybersecurity and cyberwarfare industries out of sheer necessity.
The Palestinians agreed in the Oslo Accords t govern themselves. They don't vote in Israeli elections, and Israelis don't vote in their elections (if they had any).
I've found that this strategy doesn't work over time. My goal isn't, "make the best meal ever tonight", my goal is, "shop, cook, and clean every week in order to have a good home cooked meal every night". Those are two very different challenges, where the latter requires a more pragmatic approach to time and energy management.
Well if you question your beliefs then you can arrive at your first principles, and then you can start questioning things people tell you by ensuring that you understand them as derived from your first principles. That's called thinking for yourself and one benefit of doing so is that when other people tell me I'm not thinking for myself, I know that they're wrong because I know that I have direct access to the truth. People who don't think for themselves rely on others for access to the truth.