What in the World?
Daniel, Revelation and Technology
The book of Daniel is not to be looked at in isolation.
There are other Old Testament writers that add to our understanding of end times including nearly every Old Testament prophet. A quick overview of those writers can be seen here.
Probably the most important document for understanding what will occur at the end is the Book of Revelation. The Revelation of Jesus Christ explains the scenario of the end times in greater detail; again, supported by older biblical books. In fact, the opening sentences of Revelation explains its explanatory purpose (italics added):
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw" (Rev. 1:1-2 ESV).
Furthermore, the Revelation of Jesus Christ completes the New Testament and brings to a close what God has written to humanity by divine authority. Viewed in tandem, Daniel (and other Old Testament prophetic writings) and Revelation complement each other. There is a strong belief that Revelation should be understood through the lens of Daniel, and Daniel understood through the lens of Revelation ‒ the two expound on each other and provide a portrait that should be viewed together.
A glimpse of the future
Both Daniel and Revelation foresaw a world where knowledge is vastly increased. An advanced technologically capable world that impacts human existence in a manner never before considered. A world that would far surpass the knowledge of previous human history and culminate in a scenario described in Revelation. What was unforeseen by people for thousands of years has now become rather clear ‒ the words of Daniel and Revelation can now be understood (Dan. 12:4).
What will change in the future?
We discussed briefly what has changed. The next question is what will change? As we have already attempted to point out, technology is leaping ahead at a pace previously unimagined. But just how far is it progressing? The following explanation is provided by a commercial IT company that describes the technological advancements we are experiencing today (italics added).
From an article on Industry Tap written by David Schilling, the host went on to say that not only is human knowledge, on average, doubling every 13 months, we are quickly on our way, with the help of the Internet, to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours. To put it into context, in 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every 100 years. By the end of 1945, the rate was every 25 years. The "Knowledge Doubling Curve", as it's commonly known, was created by Buckminster Fuller in 1982. If you want to take this even further down the preverbal road, you combine this with Ray Kurzweil's (Head of Google Artificial Intelligence) "singularity" theory and Google's Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen's ideas which are discussed in their book, "The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business" and you have some serious changes to technology, human intelligence and business coming down the pike whether you like it or not. (taken from https://lodestarsolutions.com/keeping-up-with-the-surge-of-information-and-human-knowledge/)
And what is Ray Kurzweil's, et al., statement the quote is referring to? Kurzweil says the following (italics added):
Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity ‒ technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.
In other words, technology is advancing so quickly that the technology itself will soon become more capable than humanity. At that point, technology will control the planet and humans will not be in control. This is what Kurzweil is saying when he indicates "technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history." Sound impossible? Apparently, it is not and the most insightful and intellectually gifted minds on the planet have been warning against this insatiable drive towards artificial intelligence for years. Billy Crone provides an overarching statement in his preface to his book, The Final Countdown Tribulation Rising: The A.I. Invasion, that well summarizes the world's current situation and writes,
"…AI [Artificial Intelligence] is a pivotal historical development needed to pull off the Last Days scenarios mentioned in the Book of Revelation and other prophetic texts…proving just how important the rise of Artificial Intelligence really is to the rise of the Antichrist kingdom and global tyranny that is coming to this planet much sooner than people want to believe…even the secularists agree and give the same dire warnings" (Crone, The Final Countdown Tribulation Rising: The A.I. Invasion, p. 7).
Nevertheless, the warnings have produced little caution and there is an accelerated push to develop and implement technologies leading to fulfillment of Bible prophesy.
Let us close this section by re-emphasizing a single point. Today's technologies provide the key to understand the scenario outlined in the biblical writings, primarily that of Daniel and Revelation. The biblical "end-time" scenario is only possible through the technology that now exists or is soon to be implemented. Maybe Tom Horn best summarizes the current relationship between biblical prophecy and the world's technological circumstances when he writes,
For the first time in history, the technology is available to accomplish the things prophesied in the Bible. Precisely which technology will be used is immaterial ‒ the fact is, never prior to this generation has any technology been available to permit the conduct of commerce in the manner described in Revelation 13:16-17 (Beast Tech, p. 30).
Does this sound strange to you? It should not. Consider viewing just a few videos that highlight current technological capabilities having significant impact on the world. Consider the increase in knowledge that has occurred in the last 100 years that allows for such wonders of technology possible (bold text is linked).
Quantum computers set to change the way humans solve problems.
The growth and implementation of Artificial Intelligence. A technology developed and implemented in an end-time scenario.
The danger of Artificial Intelligence.
The Real Reason to be Afraid of Artifical Intelligence.
Starlink satellite technology being implemented to become the bridge to completing world-wide communications system necessary for an end-times final scenario.
Military technology that will certainly play a significant role during the end-times: Nuclear submarines and Aircraft Carriers.
Of course, these are only a small sampling of the great increase of knowledge. There is an enormous amount of such information available to us. The point here, once again, is that technology and the world's rapidly changing situation is described in the Bible, long before it happened. And, if this is the case, how does technology set up the end of the age?
To answer this question, let's look at the Bible's explanation of the Pinnacle of Technology (my terminology) and the world-wide scenario at the close of the age as described in the Book of Revelation.
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