This is a solid presentation by the Bitcoin Mechanic. It’s a high level overview of where Bitcoin came from and why, along with the “cultural rot” that is impacting it today. Consequently, the ability to run your own node and verify transactions without exposing yourself to another node or entity is a compelling and essential part of Bitcoin, and that is what is being attacked yet again. Currently the Bitcoin blockchain is just under 780 GB, so you can run a node with a 1 TB or 2 TB drive just fine. But it could easily be abused to where nodes end up having to be run by larger organizations who then can exert pressure on where Bitcoin goes and how it will change. As currently, nodes are the last defense, as miners can’t be trusted and it appears neither can the Bitcoin Core developers, as some show signs of having been compromised.