I did not mean to imply any moral equivalence between Iran and the USA.
Iran is a genocidal apocalyptic religious autocracy. It is dangerous to modern civilization.
The USA is (at present though less so recently) a liberal pluralistic Democracy, where the excesses of one person or group tend to get moderated.
The USA has been the global hegemon for almost a century. During this time it has committed serious crimes and needlessly caused many civilian deaths in pursuit of its political goals. To make matters worse, the current US President is overtly antidemocratic and credibly threatening allies and enemies alike.
AND
The regime in Iran is overtly theocratic -- and therefore fundamentally disconnected from reality. Its leaders, their media, and as such some of society at large has a Blame-Everyone-Else mentality that MAGA would find extreme. They honestly, truly, deeply believe that God will relieve their suffering only if they can kill all the evil Jews in the Holy Land, and restore the Just rule of Islam (which they happen to speak for). And nukes is the only realistic way they can do that.
Illegal, maybe. But... Unjustified? Maybe the author is unaware of Isreal's recent divulgence of Iran's plan to sprint for a nuke while its militant religious zealots in Hamas and Hizbullah are hobbled? Or how openly the mullahs state that they will use it?
IMO getting Matrix's UI to work like apps people are familiar with is an order of magnitude less effort than any other option, and possibly an order of magnitude better than other options in terms of meeting the design goal of private messaging.
"Atheists" who make themselves, or the State, a swap-in replacement for God(s) are not much different from purely religious authorities who abuse their positions. It is apparently a common kind of power-seeking Dark Trait.
The Leviathan theory of the state -- the Motherland who is greater than us, who we would die for as cells die to preserve the body, and whose Exegeses come from the Great Leader/Supreme Council/President for Life.
It's exactly the same play on faith and credulity and servility that religions use.
Atheists don't need to disprove theists any more than they need to disprove Leprechauns. The burden of proof is on the one making the positive assertion.
I did not mean to imply any moral equivalence between Iran and the USA.
Iran is a genocidal apocalyptic religious autocracy. It is dangerous to modern civilization. The USA is (at present though less so recently) a liberal pluralistic Democracy, where the excesses of one person or group tend to get moderated.
They are not the same.