This drama is not Shakespeare, but it may be Shakespearean.
Act I. Some Christians of notable intelligence believe we are in it. In what? In the apocalypse. The biblical book of Revelation begins, “The revelation (apokalypsis) of Jesus Christ.”
The word, “apocalypse,” derives from that Greek root, and Revelation is often called the Apocalypse of John. In modern times, the term means the end time of persecution, tribulation, and warfare, and the coming, final battle of Armageddon. In that understanding, the figure of the Antichrist looms, power-hungry-and-crazed, in a final, premier appearance, claiming center stage, in world history’s central drama.
What if, can it be that, the power-drunk Antichrist is already here, unrecognized by most unsuspecting, distracted moderns who are basically uninterested anyhow? What if, can it be that, the Antichrist is not merely, or exclusively, a single, powerful, satanic figure who will appear on the world stage and wield global control? Can the Antichrist be even larger, truly Shakespearean in size?
Including, but going beyond natural, socio-economic, and political upheavals, and recognizing the cybernetic revolution and electronic technology now engulfing the planet, are some individuals at last sitting up and taking notice of the uncontrolled, and perhaps uncontrollable, power of the internet? Are some of them seeing elements of Greek and Shakespearean tragedy in this scenario? Are they seeing genuine signs of the apocalypse?
A particularly interesting Shakespearean element in this drama is Apple’s iconic, bitten-apple logo. Dr. Norma Rose, professor of my long ago, year-long Shakespeare study at Meredith, would have agreed, I believe. And were she here now, George Orwell’s shadow over modern computer culture would be of special interest to my esteemed mentor, as well.
Twenty years ago, the Oxford English Dictionary defined cybernetics as “the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things.” Are we not seeing “automatic control” in algorithmic technology now? Are not the diverse and many uses of computer technology convincing examples of “automatic control systems in both machines and living things”?
How might Shakespeare have connected this complex tangle of influences, inventions, and events to the Antichrist and the apocalypse? Before the Antichrist’s ascendance, social venom and hatred fueling Armageddon will have fed his rise to power, and will have changed much of the world itself into a similar figure of evil. Global reach and manipulation of the internet will have been seized and used for control of events and outcomes for evil purposes, I think he would have shown.
In that sense, Antichrist may already be here. Electronic technology and cybernetic control are, in fact, the new component. Fascism and nihilism, twin extremist threats, attend the Antichrist, and radically increase and enable totalitarian control, now electronically advanced by cybernetic science. None of it acknowledges God. What is lacking?
Let me say preemptively, there is a way out of this mess. It is through trust and faith in God’s intention and accomplished redemption through the cross of Jesus. One narrow, spiritual road, through repentance and salvation, with faithful discipleship, can lead us out of this wasteland. But until then … enter, the Apple apple.
The bitten apple. The story is a very old one. We know how it goes. Bite the fruit. You will not die. God has deceived you. Claim your knowledge of all reality, both good and evil.
Today’s version, up-to-date, expands the serpent’s lie of access to divine status equal to God’s. Nietzsche’s philosophy amplified that lie and wrote an epilogue, nihilism. Nietzsche’s version goes: God is dead. There is no God. There never was one. You are your own god. You are more than equal. You can rule the world. Claim your power. You are the overman, the “ubermensch.” Nothing has value. Except what you choose.
Today’s blasphemy adds another tempting deception. Maybe the biggest of all. Spectacularly extravagant, material wealth will give you invincible power, the devil lies. Frances Haugen described the “astronomical” profits Facebook has made for its profiteers. Silicon Valley multi-billionaires now make millionaires look middle class. One thinker has exposed this money-lust and its seductive power as “the great grift.”
“Grift,” n., means a cheat; a fraud, out to profit by “dishonest or shady means”; a con man; a skilled liar; or, the fraudulent act done by such a one, principally through lies. Thanks, OED. The Bible reveals the father of grift in the serpent, God’s Enemy in Genesis, the father of lies. Are we surprised that money-lust and power-lust are joined at the hip in “the great grift”?
(To be continued next week.)
Thanks be to God.