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This is a real thing Peter Thiel told a group of tech professionals recently.

In a four-part series of religious lectures in San Francisco, Peter Thiel — yes, that Peter Thiel — has argued that the End Times are nigh and that a biblical Antichrist — yes, that Antichrist — will come to Earth in the form of onerous government regulations placed on science, technology, and AI.

These are, incidentally, areas where the tech billionaire, venture capitalist, and cofounder of Palantir has a vested financial interest. [...]


Note: source uses a two-headline system; the submission uses the shorter of the two

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20250925211248/https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/785407/peter-thiel-antichrist-tech-regulation

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[-] markovs_gun@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

So as someone who grew up very much immersed in "end times" focused Christianity I have never really understood something- why do so many end times Christians view end times prophecies like the Antichrist or the Mark of the Beast as things to be prevented or avoided? Even growing up I didn't understand this because in the Bible it's very clear that all that stuff will happen (or is happening, depending on whether you believe Revelation was meant to be a metaphor for current events at the time of writing) because God is explicitly allowing it to, and that these things are necessary for Christ's ultimate victory over Death and Evil. So why would you try to prevent the rise of the Antichrist? In the "best case" you're just kicking the can down the road and delaying the Return of Jesus a little. In New Testament apocalyptic writing, believers are described as resisting the Antichrist's persecution, but not in having anything to do with its arrival one way or another. If humans are able to prevent, delay, or hinder the rise of the Antichrist, then God is not in charge and the whole point of these prophecies is kind of invalidated. The whole point of apocalyptic literature is that these bad things are happening and it seems like evil is winning over good, but in reality God is still all powerful and is still in control of all of it, and wins in the end.

[-] moondoggie@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I’m guessing it’s all down to sports. “I’m a Christian, so that means I’m on Christ’s team. Obviously Christ’s biggest rival is Antichrist, so I have to be against him too. Booooo Antichrist!”

[-] tomkatt@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

in the Bible it’s very clear that all that stuff will happen... and that these things are necessary for Christ’s ultimate victory over Death and Evil. So why would you try to prevent the rise of the Antichrist? In the “best case” you’re just kicking the can down the road and delaying the Return of Jesus a little.

You've put a lot more thought and consideration into it than these folks. That's why they're all "this bad, that bad, oh no Anti-Christ!"

To be fair, the end times isn't likely to be good for most. God's people for salvation number only a few:

Revelation 7:4 - Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

That ain't much. There are billions of people on the planet. At the end, the Christian God will only protect a small number from the events of the end times. The rest of us will have to just suck it up and live and suffer through the apocalypse, as it were.

I'm not a believer so I can only guess. But my guess is, despite being "Christian" (in really big finger quotes), I think deep down, a lot of these folks know they are Hell-bound (according to their own system of belief), or at the very least, hell-on-Earth-bound. They're far from Christ-like in their behavior and existence, and I can't see why they'd be among the chosen few of God's protection in the end days. Especially since many of them aren't Jewish, and actively despise Jews (despite also supporting Israel? I dunno, these people confuse the hell out of me). So postponing the end serves to postpone their own damnation.

this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2025
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