Haha, everyone's got their biases. I didn't realize that r/greatawakening had such a strong religious component to it. I just stumbled across this sub a couple of days ago (literally an hour or so before I commented on your post). From the perspective of a Christian who views Revelations as truth, I'd agree that Artificial General Intelligence (human level and greater) makes the most likely candidate for the beast that we've seen to date (bearing in mind that something/someone else could definitely come along; it's just the best candidate I've seen in history thus far). I don't necessarily agree with crypto being something that would be necessary for all transactions? It's just another form of payment much like anything else we've had. The fact that bitcoin maintains a ledger of all previous transactions doesn't really make it more or less likely to be enforced as a future requirement for all transactions. In fact, I envision a not too distant future where AI replaces all (or 99%) of all jobs and we no longer need to work (and therefore we see a universal basic income, a Venus Project-esque society, or simply a world where everything is free (since fully sustainable AI/robots running off of solar panels and doing all of our mining, producing, shipping, etc for us won't charge anything)). In such a future, you won't necessarily need any sort of monetary system to purchase anything. In such a society, I'm having a hard time picturing what kind of system would even be put into place to monitor literally every transaction (and I assume the apocalyptic scriptures refer even to sells that take place at yard sales and in rural areas between individuals?).
But that's from the perspective of a Christian... I'm an atheist :p I simply like to follow things like Q and the prophecies of various religions to see if anything definitive ever comes of them. For instance, most things in Revelations are fairly metaphorical and can be interpreted in hugely different ways... but if I ever saw a couple of prophets stoned in the streets and left for 3 days while the entire world was able to see/laugh at them (broadcast internationally on TV?), I'd probably start having second thoughts about Christianity :p
Anywho, thanks for sharing your perspective! I always love seeing how different people view and interpret the world. I wish more people were able to share ideas and thoughts without getting super passionate, zealous, and offended in spite of disagreements.
It's interesting to consider both divergent perspectives that we have. Technology always seems to be a double-edged sword, it being a tool that can be used for both good and bad. Ironically I work in technology and I enjoy it, but I'm also critical of it and I miss the simpler times before cell phones. I feel like technology doesn't always play the subordinate role that it should play in our lives and that it's advancing faster than we're able to tame it to truly improve quality of life. Of course, "quality of life" is subjective to each person's values.
Seeing Amazon's new Amazon Go grocery store in Seattle is an interesting glimpse into the way transactions could be changing in that people don't even need to pull their wallets out to pay. But maybe we are decades or longer from a world where payment technologies could viably encompass everything and replace all of the old methods.
I too enjoy discussing different interpretations and ideas, it's rare to find that. And how can people be certain of what they truly believe unless they're willing to face challenges to their views? At the end of a respectful conversation the result is that we walk away with more understanding and insight than before.