(August 29, 2010) In 1965 Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore wrote of a technological trend in a paper. The paper noted that the number of components in integrated circuits had doubled every year from the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 until 1965 and predicted that the trend would continue “for at least ten years”. His idea that technology capabilities doubles every two years (another Intel colleague declared that computer performance doubles every eighteen months) became known as Moore’s Law. As one who was born in 1958 I have seen Moore’s Law come to pass in my lifetime. Personal computers, smartphones, digital video and audio, space exploration, electronic financial transactions, global communication, and many other technological innovations have been developed over the last few decades. This could be the fulfillment of a prophecy spoken in the Book of Daniel, “4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Daniel12:4) As Moore’s Law states knowledge is increasing at an exponential rate.
The advent of the digital age may also have another prophetic ramification. God revealed the events of the End-Times to His servant John in the Book of Revelation. At one point John sees the most evil world leader ever to live rise to power on the global scene. Part of this leader’s power includes the ability to monitor the financial transactions of the citizens under his authority, “16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 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.” (Revelation 13:16-18) Recent news events illustrate that this monitoring capability may be available at any time in the near future if not already:
“Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn’t violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway – and no reasonable expectation that the government isn’t tracking your movements. That is the bizarre – and scary – rule that now applies in California and eight other Western states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently decided the government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime it wants – with no need for a search warrant. It is a dangerous decision – one that, as the dissenting judges warned, could turn America into the sort of totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell. It is particularly offensive because the judges added insult to injury with some shocking class bias: the little personal privacy that still exists, the court suggested, should belong mainly to the rich.” (The Government’s New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS; Infowars.com)
Forbes.com has story on Full-Body scanners:
“As the privacy controversy around full-body security scans begins to simmer, it’s worth noting that courthouses and airport security checkpoints aren’t the only places where backscatter x-ray vision is being deployed. The same technology, capable of seeing through clothes and walls, has also been rolling out on U.S. streets. American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents, Joe Reiss, a vice president of marketing at the company told me in an interview. While the biggest buyer of AS&E’s machines over the last seven years has been the Department of Defense operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Reiss says law enforcement agencies have also deployed the vans to search for vehicle-based bombs in the U.S.” (Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed In Street-Roving Vans)
Backscatter Van
A Fox Television website reports on biometric vending machines:
“Your thumbprint might soon be the key to an afternoon candy bar. A Massachusetts based vending machine company is joinng the growing ranks of companies that are field-testing new technologies. Next Generation Vending and Food Service is experimenting with biometric vending machines that would allow a user to tie a credit card to their thumbprint. ‘For a certain demographic that is pretty cool,’ says company president John S. Ioannou. Next Generation is currently testing about 60 of the biometric machines in various locations in the northeast. The company is also testing other technologies. Ioannou says the key to the transforming the vending machine business is making the consumer feel more engaged.” (Vending Machines Of The Future)
The San Jose Mercury News reports:
“California officials are outfitting preschoolers in Contra Costa County with tracking devices they say will save staff time and money. The system was introduced Tuesday. When at the school, students will wear a jersey that has a small radio frequency tag. The tag will send signals to sensors that help track children’s whereabouts, attendance and even whether they’ve eaten or not.” (California students get tracking devices)
As with most technology there is an upside and a downside to it. The point of these and other monitoring technology stories is that when this evil world leader does rise to power the technology will already be in place for him to monitor his citizens’ behavior and financial transactions. It is possible that the events John witnessed in Revelation are in the not-too-distant future.
