It can be defeated by economical means, that's the point of proof of work. Also @Jameson Lopp argues you have to be flexible about your idea of what bitcoin is. Put another way, bitcoin is many different things to many different people. Meanwhile, I'm running a full node and I can keep doing so for a few hundred $ only.

Core’s dumbass argument is: “It can’t be stopped… so let’s open the floodgates”