Sidmouth book links Internet to Revelations
Excessive computer use compared to beast of the Apocalypse by Sidmouth writer Glyn
THE beast of the Apocalypse can take many forms.
Whether a natural disaster or man-made catastrophe, there is a belief it will mark the coming of the end of the world.
Sidmouth photographer and writer Glyn Lewis, 63, of Manstone Lane, has just published his views on the subject and they make for fascinating reading.
In 666 – The Beast has Arisen! He discusses the link between the beast of the Apocalypse from the Bible’s Book of Revelations and the World Wide Web.
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In the early ‘70s, Glynn worked as a computer software engineer when there was considerable interest in researching ‘artificial intelligence’.
But, he points out, programming a machine to catch a ball or play chess does not show it is intelligent.
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However, what Glyn fears is computers pervade our lives to the extent that people are “abandoning serious and deep thinking and replacing it by sitting at their computers and going on-line to seek for the answers to their questions.”
With the loss of our capacity to think for ourselves through “excessive use of the new technologies”, we are, he says, jeopardising our future, especially if we allow WWW to take over from human intelligence.
In the Bible the ‘beast’ is marked with 666. In Hebrew the number six is ‘waw’, which in English is ‘w’, so three gives us www.
Glyn says: “I am not arguing against www but for the first time in our history, there is a mechanism within global reach that makes it possible, in time, for some huge organisation to control economic and material aspects of our lives in a manner the writer of the last book of the Bible meant.”
One third of the planet is on the web, and, claims Glyn, many are abdicating their own previous thoughts in favour of using the net “without thinking about it.”
Glyn’s book – more booklet – is a 13,000 word answer to questions posed by friends. It is sometimes confusing but invites thought-provoking discussion.
The web has huge benefits for society but is he right? Could it eventually produce a beast that brings about our downfall?
Paragon Books, High Street, Sidmouth, is stocking the book, priced �5.
