Yes - the original Skype was Peer-to-peer encrypted. Not popular with the TLA-agencies.

First try was eBay (WTF), but they forgot to buy the source and could not break it.

Second try, Micro$oft , and they managed to get their servers in the middle (Peer-M$-Peer) for their friends in Virginia. Now it apparently has no value to keep around and people use Signal or whatever...

So where are the physical servers located?

I hope that there are mirrors spread out in various places around the globe because of the way things are moving in the US.

Same reason that I now would like to have more information offline: books as well as hard drives with scientific reports, Wikipedia and all the 'data' that I fear might go missing. It will take some time and money and I might well team up with others in the neighbourhood.

This is about how it was working initially - perhaps with the energy storage in the form of preserved food and firewood. The problem everyone here and elsewhere comments on is that their energy consumption is not aligned with the available energy consumption and in reality that there is no openness to eg. using sweaters not heating, moving closer to the equator, sleeping when it is dark etc. etc. :-)

Well, if 50 years ago you had said that the replacement rate should be 2.1 children per woman then that would probably have been a resonable target as well. Also, considering our current numbers (2x) where we are now would be seen as totally unsustainable - which it probably also is for a long term scenario.

The thing about younger generations "having" to support the ageing population (the ones that really screwed up any hope of sustainability by their consumption (we)) is not a given.

Leaving out huge chunks of cost is actually what has been going on for a long time with regard to traditional fossil fuel derived energy. The resulting pollution has been for free in terms of the energy produced, but of course the cost has just been pushed on to others.

The energy supply and consumption in our societies have evolved from the premise of unrealistically cheap fossil fuels. Realising that we have to change from polluting to clean energy may also lead to changes in the way energy is consumed and distributed.
The energy produced from wind and solar is way cheaper than conventional fossil-based energy if you were to make a meaningful comparison where externalities are included. Adapting the rest of our Energy infrastructure and consumption may certainly have a (significant) cost, but the current massive pollution will not be one.