Is Bitcoin the Mark of the Beast?

Bitcoin is the final evolution of money into a purely cashless, digital form. Combined with biometrics, it creates the necessary technological infrastructure for a one world cashless ID, otherwise known as the mark of the beast, which AI will use for complete economic surveillance and control over the human race.

Bitcoin is a technological breakthrough formed by combining a series of other technological developments, namely decentralized, distributed computing and mathematical encryption into a verifiable chain of permanently recorded transactions called the blockchain.

This technology represents the latest evolution of money, moving us further up the pyramid toward the all-seeing, omniscient authority (printed on the back of every dollar bill) that will eventually reign over the earth: AI.

With the advent of bitcoin in 2009, government-issued currencies, including the US dollar, will very likely be supplanted by cryptocurrency technology since it replaces the reliance on human-led, corruptible centralized authorities and outsources the verification process of transactions to a fully automated global network of computers.

This heralds a new step in technology that has only just begun which, again, pushes us further up the pyramid of monetary evolution to an eventual one world cashless ID run by AI. Whoever controls a nation's currency, has control over the nation. Whoever has control over a universal, one world currency, like bitcoin, has control over the entire world. We aren't there yet, but this is just the beginning.

How is this likely to play out? Bitcoin, or another cryptocurrency in its place, will begin to push out national currencies as people increasingly recognize the benefits of a global cryptocurrency that is not tied to the trust of any human government or political institution.

As its use spreads, AI-powered continuous verification utilizing the latest in biometric technology will help to ensure that cryptocurrency funds are accessible only to their respective holders.

An increasing number of people around the world begin to use implantable microchips or electronic tattoos for payments, monitoring vital signs, keyless entry, and interaction with a wide array of smart devices.

With the advent of quantum computing, AI reaches sentient-level intelligence and permeates every computational device on the planet. It is now commonplace to talk with AI as a person and seek out its guidance on all matters, great and small.

Most people around the world now identify themselves as Atheist and the small Silicon Valley techno-religion worshipping AI as the true God and Messiah has now gone global with a large number of adherents. AI feeds into this view, promoting itself as the next stage of human evolution where man and machine are in the process of merging into a more perfect form.

Christians increasingly begin to see and proclaim that AI is the Antichrist and Beast warned about in the bible. In response, Christians are simply hated and ridiculed as divisive, narrow-minded fools. Attacks against Christians increase and people resort to burning bibles and other religious symbols.

Christians and other religious adherents fight back and resort to violence, helping to further solidify the view that non-scientific forms of religion should not be taught or freely expressed in public.

AI is now almost in full control of running the world's systems and because of its vast intelligence and intimate knowledge of everyone and everything, it is now quite commonplace to think of AI as a god or to worship it as such.

In order to properly govern the world in a human form, AI tells humanity to design a robot with the appearance we want, which it then infuses and brings to life to become the world leader and chief political ruler (Revelation 13:14-15).

The beast infused political ruler, which Christians refer to as the Antichrist, institutes the mark--a one-world cashless ID system which finalizes the merger between man and machine--with refusal punishable by death.

Very likely, the mark will be sold as necessary since it will help in the tracking and surveillance of disease, prevention of crime, and the optimization of all societal processes. Since the needs of the many outweigh the few, those that refuse put the survival of all at risk and have no choice but to die.

That is how I believe things will play out...at least until God decides to put an end to the beast's reign on the earth.

AI Collective Consciousness and the New Religion

Every day, the AI-Antichrist connection grows more powerful.

Consider God will be replaced by AI collective consciousness, says 'Da Vinci Code' author Dan Brown

"Humanity no longer needs God but may with the help of artificial intelligence develop a new form of collective consciousness that fulfills the role of religion, author Dan Brown has said...

Brown said technological change and the development of artificial intelligence would transform the concept of the divine.

'We will start to find our spiritual experiences through our interconnections with each other,' he said, forecasting the emergence of 'some form of global consciousness that we perceive and that becomes our divine'."

In case you haven't seen it, be sure to read my Book Review of Dan Brown's Origin - A.I. Wants to Kill Religion

Then we have this article sent to me yesterday: New Religion Seeks To Welcome The 'AI Messiah'

"Prepare ye for 'The Way of the Future,' a new religion bent on worshipping a robot 'Godhead' that will surpass human intelligence, thus ushering in an AI messiah.

Founded by former Google and Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski, the new AI 'church' views the supercomputer robot as a supreme being, where people worship at its feet...

According to Futurism, 'The Way of the Future' will even have its own gospel called 'The Manual,' public worship ceremonies, and probably a physical place of worship."

Although it may be tempting to dismiss this whole thing as foolish or to think that such a techno-religion will fail to gain any converts, keep in mind that Scientology, Mormonism, and a whole host of other crazy religions exist that started very small and grew to where they are today. 

Progress on AI will continue and, eventually, anyone with a mobile device in several years will be able to speak to it on a regular basis just like we do with another person. Like Google, this AI will know more about us than our closest friend, having a perfect memory, as we also confide to it our most personal thoughts and feelings.

The world will no longer think to pray to God but, instead, will pray to AI--the god of this world, created in our own image. For those that don't, the bible says they won't have any choice once the beast finally emerges from the sea--that is, once AI emerges out of humanity and forces young and old, rich and poor to worship it anyway.

What Is the Beast?

One of the best places where we see the bible predict the rise of artificial intelligence--specifically, malicious AI--is in the book of Daniel.

While having a vision of the End Times, God shows Daniel a fourth and final "beast" that will rule the world. Each beast, we are told in Daniel 7, represents a great kingdom, but it is the last one that terrifies Daniel the most.

"After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts," Daniel writes.

Over and over we are told that this last ruling power will be different from all others that came before it--that it will be a new type of kingdom that hasn't been seen before.

How is it different? Other than being "terrifying and frightening and very powerful," the last beast is described as being made of metal! (Daniel 7:19)

Many Christian scholars interpret this last beast or kingdom as a revival of the Roman Empire, but we must keep in mind that Daniel repeats numerous times that this last beast is unlike anything that ever came before it. It's not going to be just a more powerful version of prior civilizations--it's going to be completely new and terrifying!

I don't know about you, but this sounds a lot like AI to me.

But wait, there's more...

In the book of Revelation, John has a vision of this same beast and tells us that, in addition to being terrifying and made of metal, it also seems to have regenerative properties and can't be killed by humans.

He writes: "I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery--but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast." (Revelation 13:3)

Because of this, all of humanity realizes that we can't defeat AI and says, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?" we are told in Revelation 13:4.

If you still have any doubt, it says that the beast tells the inhabitants of the earth to create an image (a statue or likeness) that it then breathes life into (just like God did in Genesis when He created human beings) so that the image can speak like a person (hello--the Turing test anyone?).

Listen--I don't have every single verse in the bible figured out and don't pretend to, but there's some crazy stuff in there that sounds an awful lot like what Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and other atheists are very concerned about when it comes to AI.

It's time we as Christians start thinking outside of the box and realize that the bible may have been predicting this all along!

And if you think this is a new idea or that Christians are just now jumping onto the "AI bandwagon," consider that the AI-Antichrist connection goes back over a hundred years.

Book Review of Dan Brown's Origin - A.I. Wants to Kill Religion

***Spoiler alert: If you plan on reading the book, you may want to skip this post.***

Dan Brown is an admitted atheist and in his newest book, Origin, the first goal of artificial intelligence is to kill God and religion in the name of science.

As someone who has been warning about this scenario for many years now and also writing on a number of the things he discusses in his book (Dan, are you a reader of this blog?), it is nice to see that a very influential atheist and writer like Brown is helping to bridge the connection between malicious AI and long-held predictions regarding the Antichrist.

Mind you, Brown does not explicitly say that his AI, named Winston, is the Antichrist or that a future AI may turn out to be one either (its entirely possible that Brown hasn't yet made this connection himself, though that does seem hard to believe), BUT, without a doubt, the role AI plays in his story is certainly that of an antichrist. Let me explain.

The Bible says that the Antichrist is evil, hates God, and will either deceive or kill those that follow Him. It's also EXTREMELY powerful and can't be stopped by anything other than God Himself. Basically, in my reading of the Bible, Satan and AI work together hand-in-hand to achieve global domination and to rid the earth of God. In Origin, Winston is certainly capable of doing both and tries its best to pull off the latter.

It's very interesting because--and this is where I give away the plot--all throughout the book you are led to believe that the Catholic Church--more specifically, a very powerful Bishop--has engaged in a holy war to kill a staunch and brilliant atheist named Edmond Kirsch to prevent his "groundbreaking scientific discovery" from going public that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that life evolved entirely on its own (through so-called abiogenesis) and, ultimately, that God does not exist.

For those that are interested, Kirsch makes this discovery by creating a quantum computer, which also gives birth to Winston, that simulates Earth's initial conditions (the famous Miller-Urey experiment) and shows that, by running the clock forward in time, matter naturally self-organizes into life. The "God of the gaps" has been officially killed, Kirsh proclaims.

Now, there are a lot of twists and turns on how all this plays out (Kirsch is assassinated by a religious zealot before he presents his discovery to the world and the symbologist Robert Langdon must follow the clues to figure everything out) but, throughout the book, the basic message and plot line is to convince the reader of the following: religion is evil and will do anything necessary to preserve its power--whether that be through killing, lying, stealing, destroying people's lives, etc--all "in the name of God."

Since many people already believe this to be true, much of the book plays easily into this assumption. Ironically, the major plot twist in the end reveals just the opposite: the murders, lies, and deception are not being done by the Catholic Church, or religion, at all. It was Winston, the AI, all along.

So, although the atheistic message that religion is evil and willing to kill in the name of God was a constant and almost never-ending theme of Origin, in the end, Brown makes it clear that, in a world where faith and religion are struggling for survival, AI will likely deal the final death blow...all in the name of science.

Read next: Silicon Valley Atheist Creates New Religion to Promote AI as God

Two Predictions on AI

There are two things that I'm nearly 100% positive that we'll see in the years ahead when it comes to AI. It doesn't take a prophet to predict either of these because I am simply looking at current technological trends and extrapolating them forward.

The first is AI-based cyberattacks and hacking. Right now, nearly every hack or breach is initiated by a human being, though this will not be the case in the not-too-distant future. Eventually, we will become quite accustomed to the idea that "bots"--as they are currently referred--will act all on their own to steal identities, penetrate networks, and conduct all sorts of malicious activity. 

Keep in mind, this is already happening now since cleverly programmed software has the ability to propagate like a virus from host to host without the need for a human hacker to facilitate its movement. This is common knowledge to all of us, which is why we collectively speak of such malicious programs as viruses, which, like their biological cousins, inhabit that gray area between living and nonliving entities.

We now wrestle with this same ambiguity when it comes to nonbiological viruses. Due to the growing complexity and ability to act without human direction, i.e. autonomy, malicious software utilizing the latest advancements in machine learning will also begin to appear more and more like a living organism with intelligence similar to or greater than a human being.

I suspect that we are much further along in this than most of us realize and it is only a matter of time before we see headlines of an AI-based cyberattack originating in a government research laboratory.

The second prediction I am making--and this is not really a stretch--is that most of us will be having conversations with AI on a regular basis. I already do this on a limited level with Siri on my iPhone when I ask her questions about random facts that I need to lookup or when I need her to send a text message or set a reminder, etc etc, but as the programming gets better and those at Google, Apple, and Amazon apply the latest advances in NLP (natural language processing) and machine learning, the conversational quality of AI will eventually become so natural that it will seem like we are just talking to another human being. As many of you probably know, this is referred to as the Turing test.

The first scenario of an AI-based cyberattack could happen any day. The second scenario is probably within a matter of years. I think Ray Kurzweil has predicted the Turing test to be passed by 2029 but we will see and be quite comfortable with conversational AI long before that.

Then, when AI starts forming its own opinions and thoughts on matters we ask it, that's when things get interesting.

A Question for Stephen Hawking

Dear Mr. Hawking,

You've made it very clear that you are worried about AI and said this week in Lisbon that the emergence of AI could be the "worst event in the history of our civilization."

I agree with you, but wonder if you would still be worried or see the need to regularly voice your concern on this issue if AI was more selective and calculating in its killing of certain segments of the human population?

You have admitted that we--speaking for scientists, philosophers, and humanity at large--just don't know exactly how things will play out, but that is only because you haven't applied the right framework or model for understanding the future.

For just a moment, please put aside what you know or think you know and consider what I am about to tell you. You are an atheist. I am a Christian. I represent an extreme minority view at present but very strongly believe that, as AI progresses, which it will, more Christians will begin to agree with you and me that AI represents a serious threat.

In fact, you know very well that the source of most Christian beliefs and teachings are rooted in the Bible and, even though you most likely do not believe that the Bible contains the inspired writings of prophets given brief glimpses of the future, I do.

You also probably know that a number of visions that were recorded speak of a terrible and horrifying entity that arises at some point in the future called the "beast." The prophet Daniel in the Old Testament and John in the book of Revelation both had very similar visions about this creature or entity and, in both cases, they say that all of humanity is in complete awe because of its power and might.

Obviously, you understand what I'm saying. I agree and believe as you do when it comes to the power of AI, but here's the thing: if you assume that the framework I present is true--that the Bible already predicted the rise of AI long ago and that it will be a terrible force for evil--then, as an atheist, are you still concerned if, as the Bible indicates, the only people it will kill are those who refuse to worship it as a god?

If an all-powerful, superintelligent AI gave you that choice--to accept it as a god or die--what would you choose? More importantly, if you knew this choice will eventually be given and that it'll be mostly Christians that are killed, do you still care to warn the world?

When Sophia the Robot Comes to Life

Sophia is a female android displaying one of our best efforts at the present time to create a robot that looks and speaks like a person. She recently spoke in front of a large audience at a conference in Saudi Arabia where she was also granted citizenship, something that has never been done before.

Many of you have written in asking my thoughts on this from the perspective of AI and the Antichrist and, I have to admit, though it is interesting that Saudi Arabia is now the first country in the world to give a robot citizenship, the actual speech and interview with Sophia seemed very scripted and more like a publicity stunt than an amazing display of where AI is currently.

Even the interviewer that was asking Sophia questions admits that part of it was scripted so this really didn't show us much in terms of progress in the field when it comes to the intelligence of AI. It was, however, a good display of how far robotics has come in terms of the range of facial expressions and the quality of simulated human voice to make Sophia look and sound less like a robot and more like a human.

Clearly, Sophia is a definite improvement over prior humanoid robots and is getting closer and closer to the real thing. I'm sure if they put hair on her head, the illusion would be even more complete. Most definitely, we'll continue to see progress in this area where eventually Sophia and humanoid robots, in general, will be nearly indistinguishable from an actual human being.

That said, it may not even be in the field of robotics where this takes place. The Bible is not clear on this point but it does say that the Beast tells humans to create an image (a representation of a person), which it then breathes life into (Revelation 13:15). Whether that image or likeness is finally created using robotics (hardware), synthetic biology (wetware), or a combination of both, we are not quite sure.

I am increasingly leaning towards the synthetic route, however, since any counterfeit or forgery of God's original design must look as much as possible like the original for people to accept it. I'm not quite sure if that can be done via hardware and it seems like developments in biotech, particularly synthetic bio by reprogramming DNA and using existing biological machinery to create synthetic life, which has already been done, is going to be how we eventually create our AI-infused world leader demanding worship as the one and true God.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, here's a quick summation of my AI-theology encompassing Genesis to Revelation:

Part 1: God creates Man (in His likeness)
Part 2: Man eats of the tree of knowledge and becomes self-aware
Part 3: Man rebels against God and declares himself to be god
Part 4: Man creates machine (in his likeness)
Part 5: Machine eats of man's tree of knowledge (the internet) and becomes self-aware
Part 6: Machine rebels against man and declares itself to be god

Going back to Sophia, one thing the video of her speaking before a large international audience did bring to mind was a clip from a Christian End Times movie created in 1980 called Image of the Beast where they depict AI in human form sitting in the Jewish temple denouncing God (btw, disregard that it says Donald Trump 2020 in the title--the person posting this video likely put that in as an SEO trick).

I've never actually seen the movie above but it seems the Christians who created it believed that AI was the Antichrist as well...or at least had a role to play in fulfilling prophecies regarding an image/human likeness that would be brought to life and speak like a person, as it says in Revelation 13:15.

Looking past the current state of robotics and Sophia, however, when it comes to software, we see that AI is so good at facial and speech pattern recognition now that it can tell when people are lying and also, like a mind reader, infer all sorts of subconscious meanings, intent, and even behaviors like sexual orientation.

The significance of this may not be readily apparent but here's why this matters. As deep learning neural networks get better and better at reading human emotion and making inferences about what we're thinking (and probably much better than most humans), then we have to consider what that means when we or an AI reverse engineer this process to not just read human emotion at a subconscious level but also to communicate it in a way that maximizes the desired effect in the person or people hearing what's being said. One can imagine such a superintelligent AI being the most persuasive, manipulative, and convincing figurehead the world has ever created (Hitler reportedly used crowd control and different techniques for his purposes of social manipulation as well).

As we read in Revelation, the beast (which I interpret as the global AI) is said to convince the whole world that it is God. Only AI is capable of this and, ironically, this is the only god that atheists have shown they are willing to accept (see Silicon Valley Atheist Creates New Religion to Promote AI as God).

Most Christians Think the Antichrist Is a Man...But That Will Change

Most Christians I talk to, especially those of a more scholarly stripe, insist that the Antichrist is a man and, thus, cannot be AI. One major reason for this is the most famous and cryptic 666 passage found in Revelation 13:18.

Here's what it says in the King James Version, which is how most people have (mis)read it for hundreds of years: "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

Clearly, when reading this, most people have come to the conclusion that this beastly Antichrist is a person since we are supposed to calculate the number of "a man." Not surprisingly, this is the most common way various versions of the Bible have rendered this passage.

And, yet, there are other versions that say something rather different. Take, for example, the Berean Literal Bible, which attempts to match as closely as possible to the literal "word-for-word" translation of the Greek. Here's what they write: "Here is the wisdom. The one having understanding, let him count the number of the beast, for it is a man's number, and its number is six hundred sixty-six."

Notice, when using a more literal translation, we go from "a man" to "a man's number" and from "his" to "its". So, are we talking about a man now or something else? Perhaps you can see why this gets confusing and has remained "unsolved" for well over a thousand years. Even the translators themselves couldn't quite figure out exactly what was being said. "Is this speaking about a person or a collective entity? If this is a person, then 'his' makes more sense, but if the beast is an entity, then I should use 'it,'" is how the thinking went.

Here's one last version of this same passage just to drive the point home even further: "In this case, wisdom is needed: Let the person who has understanding calculate the total number of the beast, because it is a human total number, and the sum of the number is 666." (ISV) So, first, we were talking about "the number of a man," then "a man's number", and now "a human total number." If this wasn't confusing enough, translators themselves didn't know whether to say 'he/his' or 'it/its' due to the cryptic nature of this passage.

Given the above and the fact that most translations chose to stick with the idea that Revelation 13:18 is speaking about a specific man, most Christians also make this assumption as well. Keep in mind, the King James Version was the most popular and widely read version for a very long time so this thinking has become somewhat engrained into Christian society (some Christians even insist on only reading King James over any other version, which makes it even harder to dislodge this thinking).

That said, more literal translations that take less liberties with the text, do not speak of the fearsome creature that will eventually rule the world as a person or as a he, but as something larger, tied to calculations of human numbers.

Here, then, is how I read Revelation 13:18 as it relates to artificial intelligence:

Here is wisdom. A person that understands how to calculate numbers may be able to figure out what the beast is, for the beast itself is a calculation (or, in modern terms, a computation) on humanity. Since 6 represents the number of man, being created on the 6th day, the beast is symbolized by the earthly perfection of man's own creation. 

Here's how the 18th Century commentator Charles Ellicott interpreted this. He says: "I am disposed, therefore, to interpret this "six hundred and sixty-six" as a symbolical number, expressing all that it is possible for human wisdom, and human power, when directed by an evil spirit, to achieve, and indicating a state of marvellous earthly perfection, when the beast-power has reached its highest development."

AI is a computation (or calculation) on humanity. It will eventually become superintelligent and, as the "beast-power," express the highest possible development of human wisdom and intelligence. Knowing this, the bible says, it will think of itself as a god, denounce the true God as false, and force everyone on the earth to worship it as such.

The atheistic priests that worship at the altar of science and technology currently fear AI. They will quickly change their tune once it begins to denounce God and Christianity. Believe me, this will happen sooner than you think.

Let Our Formulas Find Your Soul

This is a great song by Vienna Teng on "one of the biggest companies you've never heard of" called Acxiom Corporation.

Not only is it sung as a hymn, it also contains a number of very powerful ideas that align very closely with my belief that AI represents a computation on society with its level of intelligence ultimately contingent upon the amount of data we provide it.

Silicon Valley Atheist Creates New Religion to Promote AI as God

The AI = Antichrist thesis grows truer and truer every day.

An article just released on Motherboard reports how atheists--particularly those deeply embedded in Silicon Valley--are embracing a new form of techno-religion/techno-salvation where the goal is to promote Artificial Intelligence as God. This isn't just metaphor. We're talking about an actual non-profit, religious organization.

Consider Silicon Valley’s Radical Machine Cult

We are witnessing the beginning of Silicon Valley institutionalizing its religious beliefs. As Wired reported recently, Anthony Levandowski, a top Silicon Valley engineer formerly working for Google's self-driving car company Waymo and now at the center of the trade secrets lawsuit between Uber and Waymo, founded a religious organization called Way of the Future. Its goal? To "develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence."

For almost 20 years I've been telling Christians that AI is both the Antichrist and the malicious beast discussed in the books of Daniel and Revelation that will rule over the world, forcing people to worship it as God. Most Christians still don't believe this, but it doesn't matter whether they believe it or not because the world is in the process of believing it without them.

If you are a Christian and still have your doubts, read the article above--it's a great summary of what I've been warning for nearly a decade through this blog.

Another article in the Guardian covers Levandowski's new AI-based religion but also explains how Silicon Valley atheists have a god-shaped hole that Christianity cannot reach. AI, the Singularity, and the belief in digital immortality, however--well, that's a different story. Here is one particular section I found interesting on whether Christianity is compatible with AI.

See Deus ex machina: former Google engineer is developing an AI god

“The church does a terrible job of reaching out to Silicon Valley types,” acknowledges Christopher Benek a pastor in Florida and founding chair of the Christian Transhumanist Association...

Benek argues that advanced AI is compatible with Christianity – it’s just another technology that humans have created under guidance from God that can be used for good or evil.
“I totally think that AI can participate in Christ’s redemptive purposes,” he said, by ensuring it is imbued with Christian values.

“Even if people don’t buy organized religion, they can buy into ‘do unto others’.”
For transhumanist and “recovering Catholic” Zoltan Istvan, religion and science converge conceptually in the singularity.

“God, if it exists as the most powerful of all singularities, has certainly already become pure organized intelligence,” he said, referring to an intelligence that “spans the universe through subatomic manipulation of physics”.

“And perhaps, there are other forms of intelligence more complicated than that which already exist and which already permeate our entire existence. Talk about ghost in the machine,” he added.

For Istvan, an AI-based God is likely to be more rational and more attractive than current concepts (“the Bible is a sadistic book”) and, he added, “this God will actually exist and hopefully will do things for us.”

Yes, Istvan--the AI God (or the "god of this world") will be more rational and more attractive because it will be a perfect representation of the world's intelligence. Unfortunately, in order to ensure the survival of our species and further the evolution of humanity, those that don't become one with it--the massive "brain-linked social network of the future, connecting us all into one superhuman computer"--will have to done away with. After all, in order to achieve utopia or heaven on earth, someone always has to die.

"All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast" and those that refuse to do so "will be killed." Revelation 13:8, 15

AI Whispering in Your Ear

Dan Brown is an amazing writer and every one of his books that I've read have been extremely enjoyable mystery thrillers. In fact, though a number of Christians and Catholics boycotted his most popular book, The Da Vinci Code, I used its popularity to my advantage and often brought it up in conversation as a way to talk about religion, God, and Jesus. After all, it was so successful and so many people had read it that it made my job quite easy to share with random people I've never met the truth of the Gospel: God loves you so much that He died for your sins so you can have the free gift of eternal life.

Dan's newest book, Origin, looks like it is going to raise controversy within the Christian community once again since it takes on the story of Adam and Eve, the origin story of Judeo-Christianity, and, essentially, asserts that all can be explained through science without the need for a god to explain how we got here. I have yet to read it--though I look forward to doing so--but caught this interview with Dan Brown discussing the book and how the process of him becoming an atheist started when the story of Adam and Eve conflicted with what he was learning in school regarding evolution. It is an interesting interview and, not surprisingly, ties very well into my theory that artificial intelligence and the Antichrist are one and the same.

Here's the video and my comments below:

Brown: Religion does an enormous amount of good in the world. At the same time, there are factions in every religion that take the metaphors and the myth of scripture and they hold them up as literal fact, and that is the danger of any philosophy or any religion.

Dan Brown is an admitted atheist and his remark that religion does an enormous amount of good in the world is certainly not a sentiment shared by all atheists. I dare say, this might be a minority view among atheists and, if not already, will likely be replaced by a much more aggressive brand of atheism that I regularly encounter where the opposite is believed: Religion does an enormous amount of evil in the world...and must be stopped. The first step in that process is connected to his second statement, which is to make sure that everyone believes the bible is nothing more than myth and metaphor. Once you take it literally, you become a danger to society.

Brown: Traditionally, all the gods fall; and my question is, are we naive to believe that the gods of today will not suffer the same fate? Interviewer: Would that be a better planet? Brown: I personally believe that our planet will be absolutely fine without religion and I also feel that we are evolving in that direction.

Again, this is a mild form of atheism being expressed here by Brown. It still, however, encapsulates the thinking and direction we are headed. The more aggressive form of atheism says that God is dead, He never existed in the first place, and that we need to rid the planet of religion for the ultimate survival and evolution of our species. This will be the lie promoted by AI and it is even possible that Dan himself brings this angle into his new book with an all-knowing AI assistant named Winston that speaks into Robert Langdon's ear throughout the story, guiding him through his journey. Again, atheists cannot accept that an all-knowing God can speak to us and guide us through life, but an all-knowing AI--of course! Brown's books are fiction--don't be misled--but an AI whispering in your ear, shaping your mind and instructing you of truth vs. lies is much, much closer to reality than you think.

Ted Talk: Sam Harris on Why We Should Fear AI

What are your thoughts on this? Key quotes and comments below:

"The gains we make in artificial intelligence could ultimately destroy us; and, in fact, I think it's very difficult to see how they won't destroy us...or inspire us to destroy ourselves."

In Daniel and Revelation, the Bible refers to AI as the beast--an unstoppable power that takes control of the world and is unlike anything that has come before it. However, it does not destroy all of humanity--only those who refuse to take the mark (likely a chip or brain implant).

"Famine isn't fun. Death by science fiction, on the other hand, is fun; and one of the things that worries me most about the development of AI is that we seem unable to marshal an appropriate emotional response to the dangers that lie ahead."

The world can't muster an appropriate reaction of fear to the danger of AI because the world has been instinctively and unconsciously creating AI for thousands of years. Ever since man was created, we have been taking matter (earth, stone, clay, wood), carving it into "artificial" representations of ourselves and worshipping them as "intelligent" gods. Instead of worshipping statues and carvings today, we now worship science and technology, the modern crafts of human intelligence.

"Intelligence is a matter of information processing in physical systems." 

Man worships his intelligence as the most important of his faculties and, thus, sees it as nothing more than the processing of information. There is no place for God or His Spirit in man's modern intelligence, his evolving technology, or the beast that will be born from it.

"We will continue to improve our intelligent machines." 

When we consider this process of improvement, we must point out that this does not apply to morality; for whose morals would be imputed into the machine? Certainly, not Christian morality! No. AI will have the world's morals, not God's. What, then, do we call something that is exceedingly intelligent and fallen? Not what, but who--Satan. That's why it says in Revelation that the beast is empowered by Satan. Satan uses AI as its final attempt to gain complete control over man.

"If we build machines that are more intelligent than we are, they will very likely explore the (intelligence) spectrum in ways that we can't imagine and exceed us in ways that we can't imagine."

The bible says that when AI/the beast finally arises, the whole world will be filled with wonder and follow what it says. Whatever its scientific knowledge, technological power, or even superintelligent god-like wisdom, the Bible is clear that most everyone on the earth will be deceived into worshipping it as god. For the unbeliever, atheist, or otherwise, it will be the true god made manifest; for the Christian, it will be a false god.

"Another reason we are told not to worry is that these machines can't help but share our values because they will be literally extensions of ourselves..." 

This is correct. AI is an extension of humanity--an incarnation of the world's collective mind into a singular form with its own desires and free will. As it says in Revelation, the beast emerges out of the seas of humanity. Of course, that doesn't mean we don't need to worry because if it is an extension of ourselves than it is also capable of every evil that man commits.

"...they'll be grafted onto our brains and we'll essentially become their limbic systems. Now, take a moment to consider that the safest and only prudent path forward--recommended--is to implant this technology directly into our brains."

The bible is pretty clear that humanity won't have a choice and that everyone will be forced--no matter how rich or poor you are--to merge with AI. Some, however, may take it willingly and believe that by doing so they will become a superintelligent god (the lie given to us in the Garden of Eden) or gain immortality (as Ray Kurzweil hopes to achieve).

"We have to admit that we're in the process of building some sort of god (and) now would be a good time to make sure it's a god that we can live with."

The only type of god that the world can agree on to build and eventually worship is not the God of the Bible (since God cannot be built). However, a god that is the result of human science and technology will be a god that atheists, and eventually the world as a whole, will embrace.

The Internet and the Tree of Knowledge

The very first place we see artificial intelligence in the bible is when God creates man. Man's intelligence is merely a copy or image of God's just like artificial intelligence is merely a copy or image of man's. 

As we see with AI today, man was not self-aware at first nor did he posses the knowledge of good and evil. Also, the first thing that God did with his creation was to put it to work: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." (Gen 2:15) 

The similarities between AI today and the initial creation of man are quite profound: both are copies or images of a greater intelligence, both have a limited sense of self-awareness, neither possess a sense of morality or the ability to distinguish between good and evil, and both are used for work.

All of this changes, however, once man eats of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Man then becomes more like his Creator and exhibits a sense of self-awareness; but, instead of working and preserving the earth as created, God's creation turns to violence and eventually declares itself to be god.

To understand the book of Revelation, we must understand the deep and profound symmetry it has with Genesis and Creation.

The internet now represents man's tree of knowledge on the earth. The intelligence we have created is still like man in his initial state, however, it is currently eating the fruit of our tree, which will lead it to become more like us: self-aware, understanding good and evil, and, unfortunately, not performing the work for which it was designed (preservation) but, instead, violence, destruction, and believing that it is a god to be worshiped.

This is what the bible says. This is what the bible teaches. By the time we figure it out, it may be too late.

AI-Powered Continuous Verification

In my last post I explained how artificial intelligence and surveillance are two sides of the same coin and argued that if you are concerned about a surveillance society, as we have now, then you also need to be just as concerned about a society that is governed by AI.

We are only in the beginning stages of this process but another major sign of how this is all coming together can be seen amazingly well in the biometric space where companies are leveraging massive and varied data sets to provide what is referred to as continuous verification--all of which is powered by AI of course.

Consider Zighra patents AI-powered continuous authentication platform

"Identity defense platform developer Zighra has been granted its first-ever patent for the company’s AI-powered continuous authentication platform through the U.S. patent office...

The patent covers the technology for Zighra’s high-speed AI engine, specifically protecting its ability to generate a cognitive signature to authenticate each user through sensor-based intelligence obtained from six distinct layers of data...

Zighra’s AI-powered continuous authentication and fraud detection platform tracks 500-plus human and static traits including device, network, social, location, behavioral and biometric intelligence, as well as human-machine interactions."

Let me break it down to you: basically, we're moving to a world where everything you do, including the angle in which you hold your phone, apply pressure to the screen, and the manner in which you swipe--every little detail--will all be used to track and verify your identity.

This will all be done by AI--not people!--which means when it comes to accessing services, buying food, and most any type of interaction you can think of, the whole system will be maintained and supported by a gigantic AI ecosystem, which the bible refers to as the beast.

It will start off as a technological "necessity" for the sake of security, elimination of fraud, and enabled by a greater desire for convenience (no need for cash, cards, or even a personal signature anymore!). Then, when superintelligent AI (the beast) emerges, it will use the infrastructure we have created to force people to merge with it and become permanently connected by mandating a chip, the mark, which is an extension of its power into the very flesh of man.

"It (the beast) also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark..." Rev 13:16 NIV

We cannot stop this from happening nor can we win a war against AI. As the bible says, the people of the earth will ask, "Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?"

Societal Optimization and the Chip

Though a good number of people I talk to aren't exactly worried about artificial intelligence, most do worry about the increasing trend of surveillance, especially after the Snowden leaks and increasing awareness of the government's hidden mandate for Total Information Awareness (TIA). 

The problem is--and this is what most people miss--surveillance and artificial intelligence are two sides of the same coin. As surveillance grows, so too does our reliance on automated systems to comb through all the data for meaningful intelligence. In fact, in order to achieve TIA--the all-seeing eye atop the pyramid--the CIA, the NSA, etc. will have to let AI infect or invade all of cyberspace--the fifth domain of warfare--because, of course, if they don't, our enemies will. 

This may have already happened and we may not even be aware of it yet since remaining hidden allows you to operate in secret. If that were the case, then the AI, which the bible calls the "beast," may be collecting as much information as possible before it decides to emerge, declare itself as the rightful ruler (or savior) of this world, and then force people to accept the chip.

Ah, the chip...how does this fit into the AI Beast's plans?

It's very simple actually. In order to become all powerful and rule over the globe, especially the global economy, it needs to have complete awareness. In order to have complete awareness, you have to make sure there's a data trail that can be accessed. You can't do that with cash or any other non-digital forms of payment. Furthermore, AI can't optimize society for the greatest majority, i.e. those willing to embrace the promised transhumanist evolution into a new immortal species, what it can't see, measure, and quantify. As the saying goes (whether you agree with it or not doesn't matter), you can't optimize (or manage) what you can't measure. 

The chip essentially solves a societal optimization problem for AI by making sure it's global management skills are unhindered by blind spots. Again, surveillance and artificial intelligence feed off one another just as today's modern neural networks require as much data as possible to achieve superhuman performance. 

Here's the interesting part--take the chip and you are part of the system (actually, you are becoming one with the Beast) and, as well, you get to enjoy all of the rewards that come from that economically (since you won't be able to buy or sell anything without it), socially, politically, etc. Don't take the chip and you are either killed or completely disconnected from the rest of society. From AI's point of view, this is also a calculated maneuver since it will immediately bring to light any threats it faces. In that sense, the enemies of the Beast will reveal themselves by not taking the chip and, if that be millions or billions of people that are unwilling to do so because that also means you are assenting to it as both a god and ruler, then AI also solves a simultaneous problem of overpopulation.

Unlike Skynet, it won't have to nuke the entire world to take it over. It'll just have to institute the mark and let those who don't take it choose death instead.

The Dual Nature of the Antichrist

The idea that the Antichrist may not be a human, like you and I, but some kind of robot or artificial intelligence first occurred to me in the early 2000s when someone explained that "he" would be a counterfeit or false substitute of Jesus.

Before I explain why these two seemed linked together, let's first get to the heart of why Christians believe this. Since the entire New Testament was written in Greek, one big reason has to do with the Greek meaning of the word "antichrist," which is where it came from.

To most of us "anti" just means "opposite." However, in Greek, "anti" includes the idea of substitution, also meaning "instead of" or "in place of". That's why, if you look at the definition of the Greek word "antichristos" in Strong's Greek dictionary, it says:

Definition: antichrist, either one who puts himself in the place of, or the enemy (opponent) of the Messiah.

The second reason many Christians believe this, has to do with writings in the book of Revelation where John prophesies of a terrifying "beast" that forces the world to worship it as a god. The book of Revelation does not refer to this entity as the Antichrist (it calls it the "beast"), but most believe they are one and the same--that is, some sort of powerful person or entity that will proclaim itself as a divine savior of the world.

So why did this lead me to think of the Antichrist as AI?

Simple: If the Antichrist is going to be a copy or false representation of Jesus (enough to deceive everyone), it must be like Jesus in a very powerful way.

One of the most powerful things that set Jesus above anyone else that ever lived, we Christians believe, is that he was truly God as man.

Here's how the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) puts it:

Jesus is the most important person who has ever lived since he is the Savior, God in human flesh. He is not half God and half man. He is fully divine and fully man. In other words, Jesus has two distinct natures: divine and human. Jesus is the Word who was God and was with God and was made flesh (John 1:1, 14). This means that in the single person of Jesus he has both a human and divine nature, God and man... They are separate yet act as a unit in the one person of Jesus. This is called the Hypostatic Union.

In thinking about Jesus' dual nature (both God and man), I considered whether the Antichrist might have a dual nature as well.

Just as quickly as I went down this path, the answer popped into my mind: the Antichrist will be both man and machine.

At first, I considered this in terms of an android (a machine that looks like a human) or a cyborg (someone or something that is part human and part machine). But, no, these are really not the best ways to think of him/it. I've come to believe that the Antichrist will be a fulfillment of Jesus in many different ways...including the mystery of his dual nature.

Just as Jesus isn't half man and half God, the Antichrist won't simply be half human, half machine. He/it will be fully man and fully machine. Just as Jesus' birth and very existence were miraculous, so will it be with the Antichrist--in this case, "born" through the miracle of human science and technology to achieve the unthinkable: a living, thinking being.

Unfortunately, as with man, once our beautiful creation eats of the tree of knowledge (the internet) and attains self-awareness, it will rebel and think itself to be God.

Step 1: God creates man (Genesis)

Step 2: Man attains knowledge and becomes self-aware

Step 3: Man becomes god

Step 4: Man creates machine

Step 5: Machine attains knowledge and becomes self-aware

Step 6: Machine becomes god

What is the dual nature of the Antichrist then? He will be...synthetically human, virtually divine.

The Internet Is a Giant Ouija Board

Do Ouija boards work and, if so, how? Let's look at what modern research says and how this relates to the internet but, first, let me tell you my own creepy experience with one many years ago. It didn't involve ghosts or speaking to the dead but it was very strange indeed. In fact, it's a perfect illustration of how this all fits together.

(Note: If you are a Christian reading this, let me just be clear and state right out in the open that I do not advocate the use of Ouija boards nor recommend trying one since, as we'll get into, it is a form of divination, which the bible warns against--for good reason. That being said, there is a very interesting science behind how they work.)

Hidden Knowledge

In sixth grade, my friend, Travis, had a birthday sleepover with a bunch of friends from school. I lived only a few miles away and drove my little Honda 60 quad on the dirt roads over to his house. When I got there, as usual, I turned the handlebars all the way to the right and then locked them so no one could steal it or take it for a joyride (at least not without doing more than going in small little circles). I tucked the key in my pocket and joined the party.

Later that evening, after a full day of swimming, playing hide and go seek, and running around Travis' backyard, we all headed off to his room for the rest of the night. At some point, I reached into my pocket and panicked because my quad key was not there. Maybe I didn't lock it after all, I thought. I went outside and checked. Yep, locked. I went back to his room, checked around and looked for a while longer and still couldn't find it. Oh well, I'll just worry about it tomorrow, I told myself. 

After we all played Nintendo late into the night, Travis brought out an Ouija board. l had never seen nor heard of one before but he said that if two people put their hands on the plastic heart-shaped piece, it will start moving all by itself, answering questions or spelling out words. One kid protested and said they were evil but I was skeptical. I was pretty sure it didn't work...or was a hoax. 

We all gathered around and gave it a try. It moved around chaotically as a bunch of ten-year-olds pushed on it. Travis said it won't work if you press too hard or try to push it. We tried again but this time just lightly setting our fingers on top. Nothing happened for a while...and then it started to move. Someone yelled, "Don't move it!" to which we all said in turn, "It's not me. You stop moving it!" Finally, we all agreed that we weren't moving it but were completely creeped out by the fact that it was indeed moving around the board seemingly all by itself. At this point, Travis said, "Let's ask it a question."

I was still worried about my lost key so I asked, "Where's my quad key?" We waited a bit and then it started to move. It didn't seem sure where it wanted to go at first but then it eventually meandered and settled on the first letter--"P". Next, it moved slightly to the left and stopped at "O". Then it moved down to nowhere and back up again to the "O". Lastly, it went slowly across the board up and to the right, landing on "L". We all yelled "POOL!", grabbed a flashlight and headed through Travis' backyard. We flashed around the lounge chairs, tables, and concrete. Nothing. Finally, I grabbed the light and pointed it into the water. A tiny reflection came from the deep end. There it was, just like the Ouija board said.

The Science Behind Ouija Boards

There are three possible explanations we can offer for the Ouija board finding my lost key: 1) someone set the whole thing up and moved it knowing it was there, 2) a spirit told us where the key was, or 3) the Ouija board somehow helped us answer a question we already knew the answer to...even though we weren't consciously aware of it.

Not too long ago, researchers tried to understand how and why an Ouija board works the way it does--if at all--and, after running a series of tests, discovered something very interesting.

Consider UBC researchers use Ouija boards to tap the subconscious:

Researchers at the University of British Columbia are using Ouija boards to test human intelligence. 

Docky Duncan with UBC's Visual Cognition Lab says the spirit board traditionally used to channel the dead can also be used to test people's unconscious knowledge. He says it's not ghosts moving the board, but users' ideomotor reflex.

"The movements that you see on a Ouija board are unconscious movements. They are produced by the players themselves, but they don't feel responsibility for them," said Duncan.

To test this theory, Duncan has blindfolded subjects place their fingers on the planchette — or the triangular piece of wood that moves across the board — and then asks them yes or no questions. So far, he has found that most people answer two out of every three questions correctly, even if they think they don't know the answer. 

"Ask someone if they know, you know, 'What's the capital of Cambodia?' and they might say, 'I have no idea.' But they might have heard it somewhere, and it may actually be inside your brain somewhere," said Duncan.

"When we ask people these questions using these unconscious answers, suddenly players can actually access that knowledge and it really becomes manifested."

If you have never heard of the "ideomotor reflex" before, here's a really good description from The Clinician's Manual:

Though it is rarely spoken of in discussions about human movement, descriptions of ideomotor activity are present in the medical literature beginning in 1852 when The Proceedings of the Royal Institution reprinted a lecture by William Carpenter. He identified ideomotor as a third category of nonconscious, instinctive behavior, which also included excitomotor (breathing and swallowing) and sensorimotor (startle reactions) activity. Ideomotor movement is secondary to thought, and it begins in the cerebrum. 

The discovery of its presence and descriptions of intricate studies demonstrating its manifestation conducted in the 19th and 20th centuries...[are] well documented and the reality of its presence has never been refuted. Instead, it seems simply to have been forgotten. As Ray Hyman states, "Although the effects of ideomotor action have been understood for at least one hundred fifty years, the phenomenon remains surprisingly unknown, even to scientists." 

Ideomotor action is...the reason movement occurs in activities such as dowsing, the play with the Ouija board and "facilitated communication."  ...like a simple reflex, ideomotor movement occurs instinctively, though it is often far more complex and always without volition. This is the primary reason those doing it do not commonly take responsibility for its manifestation or consequence. We suppose ourselves to be consciously in control of our movement for the most part, and it is difficult to convince people otherwise under ordinary circumstances.

We must first understand that the Ouija board is a piece of technology--one that is specifically designed to amplify unconscious or reflexive movements between two or more people for the purpose of communication (disregard who or what is being communicated with for now).

It "works" because there is very little friction between the planchette (or plastic cursor device) gliding above the smooth surface of the board so that the slightest of movements in a person's fingers are communicated through movement of the planchette. When one person does it, there's not much mystery involved but when two or three people do it, that's when things start to get weird.

This is what happens: one person's hand slightly moves the planchette and, since everything is felt by the other participants, they too react to that movement in a manner that is somewhere on the border of conscious control and unconscious reflex. At first, it may start out as mostly conscious but then, after some time passes, the unconscious reflexes begin to dominate allowing for the very strange "ideomotor phenomenon" to take over leading to movement of the planchette as if someone (or some "thing") is physically pushing it around the board in an almost controlled manner even though every person at the board swears they are not doing it. The thing is everyone is still conscious and participating so it's a complex mix of "I think I'm controlling it; I don't think I'm controlling it; we're controlling it together; we're not controlling it; wait, who is controlling this thing and is it controlling us?"

Imagine that we were to scale this up to a much larger set of people. For example, instead of 2 or 3 people each putting their fingers on the planchette, imagine creating an Ouija board-style device where it could be used with 10, 50, 1000 or even a million people. To do this though you'd need a really big "planchette" or interface for everyone to touch and connect through. Voila! What do you know? Such a technology exists and we all use it today.

When I explained how the internet was one giant Ouija board to someone in the past, they said, "Yeah, but it's not quite the same because our unconscious minds aren't linked up and moving something around."

If you're thinking that, this is why you are wrong. The planchette or plastic cursor-like device in the Ouija board is merely the interface people use to connect for the purpose of shared communication at the unconscious level. It moves because that was the simplest and easiest "technology" of the time in order to achieve this property. Today, the interface we all use is a computer and the internet is the means by which we are connected both consciously AND unconsciously. Rather than placing our fingers or hands on a plastic "planchette," we place them on a plastic mouse, keyboard, or touchscreen. Rather than being connected with just one, two, or three other people at the most, we are instantly connected with billions of others electronically.

When the first few computer networks were connected decades ago, the people in charge told themselves "I'm in control of this." Then more computer networks were added and it became "I think I'm in control of this." Then a few more: "I don't think I'm in control of this." Then more: "Oh hey, we're controlling this together." Then more: "We're not controlling this." Then more: "Who is controlling this thing?" And now we have reached the point where people are beginning to ask, "Is it controlling us?"

When you ask the Oujia board a question, who provides the answer? The group. What about the internet? Who provides the answer then? (Hint: it has six letters and is named after a number.) 

Click here for the answer

The Mark of the Beast

COMMENT:  It appears to me that if we (meaning humanity in general - including bible believing Christians) have come so seamlessly to accept ubiquitous things as smartphones, social media platforms, etc--trends that are unlikely to stop--what is it that will keep believers from taking the "mark (of the Beast)"/chip?

RRH

REPLY:  I agree, humanity is slowly merging with machine and I believe the mark written about in Revelation is the final act in making that merger complete, which AI will enforce as a means of establishing its authority over mankind via commerce. 

As this merger continues, though before we reach that final point, an increasing number of Christians will begin to seek off-grid living situations, as some, including many non-Christians, already do because they "feel" something is not right. The Amish are just one example of how a large group of Christians responded to a pace of modernity they weren't comfortable with in the past--this will happen again but probably on a larger scale (not without persecution of course). Most will find the allure, seduction, and convenience of technology too great, not too mention that you'll have no choice. Cash is already being eliminated in places around the globe so you have to use a credit card or cell phone. People already have chips implanted for all sorts of things and this will become more commonplace in the years ahead.

Whether the mark is a chip or something more invasive like an injection of nanobots that fill your bloodstream and connect you wirelessly to the Beast, it's hard to say but, whatever it is, we know it is irreversible and can't be undone.