Do They Know Something We Don't?

Steve Jobs pitches new Apple 'spaceship' campus to Cupertino City Council
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/06/steve-jobs-pitches-new-apple-spaceship-building-to-cupertino-city-council.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/197647/20110814/apple-headquarters-design-cupertino-california-steve-jobs.htm

Phase one of world's first commercial spaceport is now 90% completed - in time for first flights in 2013
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2034239/Phase-worlds-commercial-spaceport-90-cent-completed--time-flights-2013.html

Krugman Calls On Government To Manufacture War To Save Economy: Amidst “alien invasion” rant, many miss the point that NY Times economist was advocating a staged crisis
Amidst the melodramatic reaction to economist Paul Krugman’s eyebrow-raising rant about the impact an alien invasion would have on the US economy, many have missed the point, that Krugman was calling on the government to manufacture a staged event or a war to act as a smokescreen for the continued looting of the American people.
http://www.infowars.com/krugman-calls-on-government-to-manufacture-war-to-save-economy/

Feigned Space Invasion – Recalling “Blue Beam”
http://info-wars.org/2010/05/18/feigned-space-invasion-recalling-blue-beam/

Apple factory's answer to worker suicides, replace staff with 1 million robots

Apple factory's answer to worker suicides, replace staff with 1 million robots
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2021251/Foxconn-Apple-factorys-answer-worker-suicides-replace-staff-1m-robots.html

Wired 8.04: Why the future doesn't need us. (Bill Joy, cofounder and Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems)
Our most powerful 21st-century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are threatening to make humans an endangered species.
From the moment I became involved in the creation of new technologies, their ethical dimensions have concerned me, but it was only in the autumn of 1998 that I became anxiously aware of how great are the dangers facing us in the 21st century. I can date the onset of my unease to the day I met Ray Kurzweil, the deservedly famous inventor of the first reading machine for the blind and many other amazing things.
Ray and I were both speakers at George Gilder's Telecosm conference, and I encountered him by chance in the bar of the hotel after both our sessions were over. I was sitting with John Searle, a Berkeley philosopher who studies consciousness. While we were talking, Ray approached and a conversation began, the subject of which haunts me to this day.
I had missed Ray's talk and the subsequent panel that Ray and John had been on, and they now picked right up where they'd left off, with Ray saying that the rate of improvement of technology was going to accelerate and that we were going to become robots or fuse with robots or something like that, and John countering that this couldn't happen, because the robots couldn't be conscious.
While I had heard such talk before, I had always felt sentient robots were in the realm of science fiction. But now, from someone I respected, I was hearing a strong argument that they were a near-term possibility. I was taken aback, especially given Ray's proven ability to imagine and create the future. I already knew that new technologies like genetic engineering and nanotechnology were giving us the power to remake the world, but a realistic and imminent scenario for intelligent robots surprised me.
It's easy to get jaded about such breakthroughs. We hear in the news almost every day of some kind of technological or scientific advance. Yet this was no ordinary prediction. In the hotel bar, Ray gave me a partial preprint of his then-forthcoming book The Age of Spiritual Machines, which outlined a utopia he foresaw - one in which humans gained near immortality by becoming one with robotic technology. On reading it, my sense of unease only intensified; I felt sure he had to be understating the dangers, understating the probability of a bad outcome along this path.
I found myself most troubled by a passage detailing adystopian scenario:
THE NEW LUDDITE CHALLENGE
First let us postulate that the computer scientists succeed in developing intelligent machines that can do all things better than human beings can do them. In that case presumably all work will be done by vast, highly organized systems of machines and no human effort will be necessary. Either of two cases might occur. The machines might be permitted to make all of their own decisions without human oversight, or else human control over the machines might be retained.
If the machines are permitted to make all their own decisions, we can't make any conjectures as to the results, because it is impossible to guess how such machines might behave. We only point out that the fate of the human race would be at the mercy of the machines. It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand over all the power to the machines. But we are suggesting neither that the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines' decisions. As society and the problems that face it become more and more complex and machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions for them, simply because machine-made decisions will bring better results than man-made ones. Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People won't be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide.
On the other hand it is possible that human control over the machines may be retained. In that case the average man may have control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car or his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will be in the hands of a tiny elite - just as it is today, but with two differences. Due to improved techniques the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite is ruthless they may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite. Or, if the elite consists of soft-hearted liberals, they may decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human race. They will see to it that everyone's physical needs are satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes "treatment" to cure his "problem." Of course, life will be so purposeless that people will have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove their need for the power process or make them "sublimate" their drive for power into some harmless hobby. These engineered human beings may be happy in such a society, but they will most certainly not be free. They will have been reduced to the status of domestic animals.1
[continued …]
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html

Implant humans with computer chips, like horses

(Rev 13:16-17)   And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:  And that no man might buy or sell, [...]
http://forthtell.blogspot.com/2010/09/god-hates-you-hate-him-back-making.html

The King of Saudi Arabia advised Obama to "implant computer chips in Guantanamo" detainees, "like horses."
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/28/us-foreign-policy-ge.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/198178

FT: Computers set for quantum leap By Clive Cookson in Birmingham (September 16, 2010)

(Dan 12:4)   But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 

FT: Computers set for quantum leap By Clive Cookson in Birmingham (September 16, 2010)
A new photonic chip that works on light rather than electricity has been built by an international research team, paving the way for the production of ultra-fast quantum computers with capabilities far beyond today’s devices.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8c0a68b0-c1bc-11df-9d90-00144feab49a.html

Trends Part 2 and Part 3

The moment it happens, it's history.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - Santayana

Orwell (1984) “He who controls the past controls the future, and he who controls the present controls the past”. 1984 (Orwell)

Think of the trends that will be observed in this blog in terms of a pyramid.
The base layer of the pyramid is the bedrock of Scripture (search Title: "Trends" in this blog). The middle tier is comprised of Info War trends:

1. Economic Crisis
2. World News
3. Police State
4. World War
5. Big Brother
6. September 11
7. War on Terror
8. Constitution in Focus
9. Medical Tyranny
10. Science & Technology
11. Border Control & Illegal Immigration
12. U.S. News
13. Iraq
14. Washington Politics
15. Iran
16. Media

http://www.infowars.com/

The third set of trends, the top tier, can be thought of, as a focused laser, using the lens of Scripture to illuminate issues commonly reported in the media that characteristically End Times phenomenon.

1. Technology (Rev 13:17; Mat 24:15; Dan 12:4)
2. Pharmakeia ("Sorcery") (Rev 18:23)
3. Human Trafficking (Rev 18:13)
4. Archaeology
5. Occult (Lev 20:6; Rev 16:14)
6. Globalists (Rev 18:23)
7. Beheading (Rev 20:4)
8. Singularity
9. Scoffers (2 Pet 3:3; 2 Tim. 3)

"Declaring the End from the Beginning":

Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me,
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure[....]

Trends

Mat 16:1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
Mat 16:2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
Mat 16:3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

Luk 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Luk 19:35 And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.
Luk 19:36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.
Luk 19:37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
Luk 19:38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
Luk 19:39 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
Luk 19:40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
Luk 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Luk 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

Jesus held his contemporaries accountable for not understanding the times!
"This thy day" was a specific reference to a mathematical prophecy laid out in the book of Daniel by which the exact day the Messiah ("the King that cometh in the name of the Lord") would be revealed could be calculated.

Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

"The idiom of a "week" of years was common in Israel as a "sabbath for the land," in which the land was to lie fallow every seventh year.2
[...]
The Book of Daniel is actually one of the most authenticated books of the Old Testament, historically and archaeologically, but this is a convenient short-cut for our purposes here. It is critical to realize that the Book of Daniel existed in documented form almost three centuries before Christ was born. [see the Septuagint translation ~ 270 B.C.]
http://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/46/

For an overview of this amazing mathematical prophecy, read:
Palm Sunday Surprise: The Unexpected King by Chuck Missler
http://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/46/

For a detailed review see Sir Robert Anderson's seminal work:
The Coming Prince Sir Robert Anderson (1841-1918)
http://philologos.org/__eb-tcp/

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."

"This includes a mathematical prophecy. The Jewish (and Babylonian) calendars used a 360-day year;4 69 weeks of 360-day years totals 173,880 days.
In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 173,880 days.
The "Messiah the Prince" in the King James translation is actually the Meshiach Nagid, "The Messiah the King." (Nagid is first used of King Saul.)"
http://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/46/

The 70th Week
There is a remaining seven-year period to be fulfilled. This period is the most documented period in the entire Bible. The Book of Revelation, Chapters 6 through 19, is essentially a detailing of that climactic period.
http://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/46/

The 70th Week (seven year period) encompassing the Great Tribulation, later 3 1/2 years of the final seven years before the return of Christ, is yet to be fulfilled. Considering, that the exact day that the Messiah would reveal himself was laid out centuries in advance, in writing. And, as has been pointed out, "this period [End Times, Last Days] is the most documented period in the entire Bible." A set of trends can be distilled by meticulously, logically, seriously, studying the Bible for references to this time. The following ten trends interweave and intersect with every part of our lives, they are the topics discussed by every geo-political strategist, and they lead inexorably to a specific time on the near horizon.

1. The Struggle for Jerusalem
2. Weapons Proliferation
3. The Rise of Islam
4. The Magog Invasion
5. The Rise of the Far East
6. Biotech & Global Pestilence
7. The Rise of a European Superstate
8. The Decline of the U.S.
9. Global Government
10. Global Religion
http://www.khouse.org/strategic_trends/

God has never been inexact. His plan was laid out in advance before time began. He has forthtold his plan, and we can be prepared by understanding the times in which we live. As prophecy is the forthtelling of God's Word, this blog will point to the exactness God has laid out in Scripture, as it is reported in the news and views of today.