Hacker News Reader

Comment by Jensson | Hacker News Reader

They think that a unique number for each person would let the government oppress people. Basically they think it makes it easier for the government to track you, even though current usage of social security number gets the exact same effect without any of the advantages of a mandatory national id number.

View on HN

That, yes, but a surprisingly-large-to-rational-bubbled-HNers set of Americans actually worry that any kind of national ID program is part of the rise of the Antichrist to power and that having one puts them under, or will in the future put them under, the Antichrist’s power. Seriously.

I have never encountered anyone claiming the antichrist has anything to do with IDs.

Oh I certainly have. I've seen this quoted by my crazy family members:

Revelation 13:16-17 King James Version 16 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:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Yeah, the first one is kind of nothing (as long as the mark location is taken figuratively and not literally, it could even mean something like a phone number), but the second one kinda came to the forefront around 2022 when governments started talking about vaccine passports and the possibility of using them to deny access based on vaccination status.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com