It’s possible to interact with dapps without going through a centralized server, for certain types of client hardware. Definitely not for mobile devices.
This is excellent, it’s great you had this experience. Mine was the opposite: we hired a replacement for my former boss, and at our first 1:1, I told her I was desperately burned out and unable to really accomplish much. She said, you can take vacation after we accomplish some big team goals.
That article only says Sharon (who was only a part of the government) opposed occupation, and even then was quiet about it. Also the article is completely unsourced.