Peter Thiel, the influential tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist, is largely responsible for reviving popular discussions about the Antichrist. His revelations speak to provocative questions regarding what it means in our present day. In a sold-out, off-the-record lecture series held in San Francisco, Thiel explored the intersection of theology, history, literature, and politics related to the Antichrist. In particular, he cautioned that fears regarding the pace of technological change, most notably AI, might push elites to support a transnational administrative order. This order could also centralize power in ways that fulfill historical Antichrist conspiracies.
Yet Thiel’s claims are the chorus of a growing movement within American politics. Biblically, the idea of the Antichrist has moved back and forth from a religious figure to a political retribution. This cyclical pattern is indicative of larger societal anxieties, especially during periods of social change or unrest. Thiel is correct that fear of technological progress and regulatory action over AI can help incubate the emergence of a strongman. This tyrant will use these panics to amass more power over the population, all while masking their actions in the quest for humanitarianism.
The tech mogul proceeded to compare the future Antichrist (or maybe he’s just there already) to climate crusader and TikTok influencer Greta Thunberg. Thiel cautions that the emergence of a “humanitarian regulator” creates acute dangers related to an anti-tech backlash. He likens this insidious trend to the work of some Antichrist spirit. This perspective aligns with the broader anti-regulatory instincts prevalent among many in Silicon Valley, who often advocate for minimal governmental interference in technological innovation.
In his lectures, Thiel stressed that talk of the Antichrist is more than about theology. These works offer some language for naming the fears that haunt our present-day world. He claimed that the plan recontextualizes today’s headlines as a great cosmic drama. This change makes finding the history behind current social upheaval and international discord that much easier. “The theology, history, literature, and politics of the Antichrist” provide a framework through which citizens can navigate their anxieties about the future.
This is why the recent violent crimes committed by Thomas Jacob Sanford have made the need to explore Antichrist rhetoric in American culture so pressing. Toby Sanford ramming his pickup truck decked with Confederate flags into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worship space. There, he opened fire on unarmed congregants and announced that Mormons were “the antichrist.” This extreme behavior is at the end of the Antichrist language spectrum, yet it serves to heighten our fears and divides our society just as much.
Throughout American history, Christian apocalypticists have oscillated between anticipating a singular charismatic ruler and warning against global administrative systems that could embody Antichrist forces. These narratives are ever-ready to be recycled when American power seems to be in peril or when large-scale social change is afoot. The current climate suggests that Thiel’s warnings about a potential Antichrist figure gaining traction amid fears of technological regulation may indeed reflect broader societal trends.
As the discourse surrounding Antichrist reemerges, it raises questions about the implications of such rhetoric on public policy and societal attitudes towards technology. A centralized, technocratic, non-evil empire undermines innovation and autonomy. This challenge goes beyond even our democratic governance’s bedrock principle of separation of powers.