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> theories about things like the “mark of the beast” My hope is their anti-vax research eventually leads them to learning about DNA.

by ethbr0 5y ago

TeMPOraL 5y ago
The problem isn't with a person having a UUID of some sort (of which their genome is one). The issue is that the Book of Revelations talks about a Mark people will need to have stamped on their arm and/or forehead in order to be able to conduct business. I.e. it's a problem of allegiance, not authentication. So, in practice, anything that pattern-matches to "people will need to carry some sort of token given by a big organization (private or public) to pay or be paid for goods and services" will be viewed by some as the Mark, or a slippery slope towards the Mark.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Last I checked, the anonymous web was effectively dead. Or do these people not use the internet either?
  - TeMPOraL 5y ago
    They do, but most people aren't aware how Internet works. Hell, most people haven't learned the concepts necessary to comprehend what information is (personal or otherwise) and how it behaves - not in terms of technology, but as a fundamental component of reality. Anyway, the Mark as described in Revelations is pretty... bodily, for lack of better term. It evokes the image of getting a barcode stamped on your arm or your forehead, in exchange for swearing fealty. The Mark feels like a concrete, physical thing. That's why things like "government ID" or "payment chip in your arm" pattern-match to this prophesy for so many people, while things like "mobile phone number" or "e-mail address" don't. (There's also a factor of scale/graduality. For people alive this century, countries and governments were always a thing. A big thing. Banks too. The governments, the UN, the international financial system - they look big, evil, and pattern-match to the Beast. In contrast, for most people alive today, mobile phones and e-mail addresses were something they've seen introduced gradually, from great many independent vendors. They don't have this obvious Beast-like quality.) Source: grew up as Jehovah's Witness. While I obviously can't speak for all fundamentalist Christians, and while JW teachings don't consider government IDs to be the Mark[0], I got pretty familiar with the patterns of thinking people show around this topic. -- [0] - They do, however, believe that the Beast described in the Revelations is currently embodied by the United Nations. So if the UN ever proposes a common ID scheme or an electronic payment system, I'm pretty sure plenty of Witnesses will throw a fit.
gedy 5y ago
To be fair, all the anti vaccination people I know are solidly liberal, non-religious types who believe in "natural" medicine, etc.
hutzlibu 5y ago
If it would be true research, sure. But it is likely looking for anything that looks like supporting of the theory and ignoring everything else.

> theories about things like the “mark of the beast” My hope is their anti-vax research eventually leads them to learning about DNA.

by ethbr0 5y ago

> theories about things like the “mark of the beast” My hope is their anti-vax research eventually leads them to learning about DNA.

TeMPOraL 5y ago

The problem isn't with a person having a UUID of some sort (of which their genome is one). The issue is that the Book of Revelations talks about a Mark people will need to have stamped on their arm and/or forehead in order to be able to conduct business. I.e. it's a problem of allegiance, not authentication. So, in practice, anything that pattern-matches to "people will need to carry some sort of token given by a big organization (private or public) to pay or be paid for goods and services" will be viewed by some as the Mark, or a slippery slope towards the Mark.

ethbr0 5y ago
Last I checked, the anonymous web was effectively dead. Or do these people not use the internet either?
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  They do, but most people aren't aware how Internet works. Hell, most people haven't learned the concepts necessary to comprehend what information is (personal or otherwise) and how it behaves - not in terms of technology, but as a fundamental component of reality. Anyway, the Mark as described in Revelations is pretty... bodily, for lack of better term. It evokes the image of getting a barcode stamped on your arm or your forehead, in exchange for swearing fealty. The Mark feels like a concrete, physical thing. That's why things like "government ID" or "payment chip in your arm" pattern-match to this prophesy for so many people, while things like "mobile phone number" or "e-mail address" don't. (There's also a factor of scale/graduality. For people alive this century, countries and governments were always a thing. A big thing. Banks too. The governments, the UN, the international financial system - they look big, evil, and pattern-match to the Beast. In contrast, for most people alive today, mobile phones and e-mail addresses were something they've seen introduced gradually, from great many independent vendors. They don't have this obvious Beast-like quality.) Source: grew up as Jehovah's Witness. While I obviously can't speak for all fundamentalist Christians, and while JW teachings don't consider government IDs to be the Mark[0], I got pretty familiar with the patterns of thinking people show around this topic. -- [0] - They do, however, believe that the Beast described in the Revelations is currently embodied by the United Nations. So if the UN ever proposes a common ID scheme or an electronic payment system, I'm pretty sure plenty of Witnesses will throw a fit.

gedy 5y ago

To be fair, all the anti vaccination people I know are solidly liberal, non-religious types who believe in "natural" medicine, etc.

hutzlibu 5y ago

If it would be true research, sure. But it is likely looking for anything that looks like supporting of the theory and ignoring everything else.