Truly Frightening News

[Divine Insight]

The following news should come as no surprise. But it's still frightening.

We are all aware of how advanced social technologies are becoming everyday consumer products. If you're watched many YouTube videos you've no doubt seen many that have been obviously manipulated in ways intended as comedy, or perhaps even intended to deceive but may have not been very convincing. The problem is that this is all changing very rapidly. And is in fact, already available to those who have the money to purchase it. But it's also within the reach of the average person. And this is true all over the world, not just in America.

The bottom line is that we are no longer going to be able to recognize "fake news". Even if you are quite savvy and believe that it is easy to recognize fake news, this is about to change dramatically just in the next few years. The technology already exists, it's just a matter of it now being implemented in more convincing ways.

In fact, much of the news that you already trust may actually be fake news and you may not even be aware of it.

This is truly frightening I think, because we are about to enter into a period of time when reality is going to seem surreal. Where we will no longer be able to even trust the information we are being given, even if we think we are seeing an individual we trust speaking. It could actually be their image being manipulated to report false information.

Our technologies are about to backfire on us in a major way.

[youtube][/youtube]

We're going to be living in a world where we won't even be able to trust the news we hear. I mean, that's always been true, but at least we could trust certain people and newscasters, etc. But now we can't even trust that the person we see reporting the news is actually the person they appear to be. The whole broadcast could be fake.

[Divine Insight]

[Replying to post 10 by William]

Please see the following thread for further discussions along the lines of your concerns William

Questions for William: What page are you on?

[Wootah]

[Replying to Divine Insight]

Imagine if Jesus started his mission today. It would be called fake news.

[William]

[Replying to Divine Insight]

Imagine if Jesus started his mission today. It would be called fake news.

Even that he started it when he did, some still think of it - then and now - as fake news.

[Tired of the Nonsense]

[Replying to Divine Insight]

Imagine if Jesus started his mission today. It would be called fake news.

And with good reason.

"Man walks on water!-- news at 11:00."

"Man feeds hundreds with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish!-- news at 11:00."

"Man resurrects a dead friend!-- news at 11:00."

"Man dies, but days later returns to life and then flies away!-- news at 11:00."

These are exactly the sorts of stories that people reasonably SHOULD consider to be false news.

[TheBeardedDude]

[Replying to post 12 by Wootah]

"Imagine if Jesus started his mission today. It would be called fake news."

If your Jesus actually existed and the things he is purported to have done are true, then it would just be news. But if the stories are just that (baseless stories), then they are fake and thus reporting on them would be reporting fake news. So are you admitting that it would actually be fake news? Or are you trying to say that people would call them "fake news" today if they were reported on even though you believe that they aren't fake?

Fake news isn't fake because some people dispute it. Fake news is fake because it is blatantly wrong or false. Fake news is fake because it is untrue.

[Wootah]

[Replying to post 12 by Wootah]

"Imagine if Jesus started his mission today. It would be called fake news."

If your Jesus actually existed and the things he is purported to have done are true, then it would just be news. But if the stories are just that (baseless stories), then they are fake and thus reporting on them would be reporting fake news. So are you admitting that it would actually be fake news? Or are you trying to say that people would call them "fake news" today if they were reported on even though you believe that they aren't fake?

Fake news isn't fake because some people dispute it. Fake news is fake because it is blatantly wrong or false. Fake news is fake because it is untrue.

No I just saw an extension of the ideas in the original post and felt like making the thread interesting.

Jesus arriving when he did is interesting for many reasons. For instance I read that apart from now the only other time when it was relatively cheap and relatively safe to travel around the known world was back then.

Might not the proliferation of science and handy cams and Facebook and special effects actually make it less likely that Jesus would conduct his mission today?

[Volbrigade]

The following news should come as no surprise. But it's still frightening.

We are all aware of how advanced social technologies are becoming everyday consumer products. If you're watched many YouTube videos you've no doubt seen many that have been obviously manipulated in ways intended as comedy, or perhaps even intended to deceive but may have not been very convincing. The problem is that this is all changing very rapidly. And is in fact, already available to those who have the money to purchase it. But it's also within the reach of the average person. And this is true all over the world, not just in America.

The bottom line is that we are no longer going to be able to recognize "fake news". Even if you are quite savvy and believe that it is easy to recognize fake news, this is about to change dramatically just in the next few years. The technology already exists, it's just a matter of it now being implemented in more convincing ways.

In fact, much of the news that you already trust may actually be fake news and you may not even be aware of it.

This is truly frightening I think, because we are about to enter into a period of time when reality is going to seem surreal. Where we will no longer be able to even trust the information we are being given, even if we think we are seeing an individual we trust speaking. It could actually be their image being manipulated to report false information.

Our technologies are about to backfire on us in a major way.

[youtube][/youtube]

We're going to be living in a world where we won't even be able to trust the news we hear. I mean, that's always been true, but at least we could trust certain people and newscasters, etc. But now we can't even trust that the person we see reporting the news is actually the person they appear to be. The whole broadcast could be fake.

I was looking for someplace to deposit a few thoughts on an accommodating topic.

This is an intriguing spot.

We have indeed entered into "interesting times" (as in the old Chinese curse). They are unprecedented. I recently heard an expert who opined that until recently, a "generation" was 30 years or so. Now, it is more like 5 years; the level of wholesale, sweeping change in technology has become so swift.

I agree with that assessment.

Our technology is on the verge of being out of control. And no one knows what to do about it. In decades past, artists and thinkers and visionaries were sensitive to the direction our technocracy was headed, and the dangers attendant with it. They were like canaries in the mineshaft.

Now that the time is at hand, it seems like most folks are dull and inured to its tone and temper, very much like a scene from that great prophetic film "Idiocracy".

In terms of the OP, two things come immediately to mind.

The first is how often The Bible warns against being deceived (a concordance search is instructive here).

My favorite: "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you." (Mt. 24:4)

And this:

"He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed." (Rev:13:15)

Note: not "the beast". But it's image. The vid -- which appears to have been taken down -- I infer shows how images can be manipulated to show us "what ain't so".

[EphesiansGal]

The following news should come as no surprise. But it's still frightening.

We are all aware of how advanced social technologies are becoming everyday consumer products. If you're watched many YouTube videos you've no doubt seen many that have been obviously manipulated in ways intended as comedy, or perhaps even intended to deceive but may have not been very convincing. The problem is that this is all changing very rapidly. And is in fact, already available to those who have the money to purchase it. But it's also within the reach of the average person. And this is true all over the world, not just in America.

The bottom line is that we are no longer going to be able to recognize "fake news". Even if you are quite savvy and believe that it is easy to recognize fake news, this is about to change dramatically just in the next few years. The technology already exists, it's just a matter of it now being implemented in more convincing ways.

In fact, much of the news that you already trust may actually be fake news and you may not even be aware of it.

This is truly frightening I think, because we are about to enter into a period of time when reality is going to seem surreal. Where we will no longer be able to even trust the information we are being given, even if we think we are seeing an individual we trust speaking. It could actually be their image being manipulated to report false information.

Our technologies are about to backfire on us in a major way.

[youtube][/youtube]

We're going to be living in a world where we won't even be able to trust the news we hear. I mean, that's always been true, but at least we could trust certain people and newscasters, etc. But now we can't even trust that the person we see reporting the news is actually the person they appear to be. The whole broadcast could be fake.

Hello
I think you are right to be scared about this, you are talking about a time already beginning when people are unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Others have noted that Jesus admonished us to take care that we would not be deceived....but what if we don't know we are being deceived? is there any protection against that?

According to the Bible, in 2 Thess 2, the ones that perish are those who did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. It is these who will be sent a "strong delusion" so that they will believe a lie. This will have the effect of separating out those who are saved from those who will perish...as in the sheep and goats scripture.

Our protection in these times is to come personally to Jesus (Who is the way, the TRUTH and the life), to be born again, and thus to receive His Spirit, i.e. the Spirit of Truth...Who guides us into ALL truth. This is what salvation is and this is what we need.

In that event, we have no need to fear, though things around us appear to be dissolving, the God of all truth will uphold His elect through all the trouble that is to come.