# mark of the beast microchip -- when was it invented? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998 "2009-05-29T04:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/21 "2009-05-29T16:53:53Z")
The mark of the beast is 616 not 666 get with the times. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/22 "2009-05-29T17:27:00Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > So the 6 and the delimiter are the same narrow strips, but the delimiter is slightly longer in length than the numeric value strips in the barcode? > > Being raised in The Crazy of fundie belief system, I’m surprised no one pointed out to those developing barcodes that using 3 delimiters that are the same as the # 6 (but longer!) is going to feed The Crazies. > > MeanJoe Weeeell… if we get all technical about it, they aren’t exactly the same. To the expert they are completely different (or so I’m told). And… who knows? Maybe the designers inserted it as a deliberate practical joke. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/23 "2009-05-29T17:58:06Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > And… who knows? Maybe the designers inserted it as a deliberate practical joke. That’s what I would do! Haha! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/24 "2009-05-29T18:06:29Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > The mark of the beast is 616 not 666 get with the times. Not this again… The Big Media Revelation (no pun intended) on this a few years back has been known to Bible scholars & indeed anyone who bothers to look at the footnotes of most new translations published in the last few years. Most texts read 666, a few have 616. The difference is probably because the Hebrew gematria for NeRO KaeSaR is 616 and NeRON KaeSaR is 666. (NeRON was a valid Hebraic spelling of his name back in NT days.) ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/25 "2009-05-29T19:22:59Z")
I am one of the few pentecostals who finds eschatology boring, but I would place the blame for this meme on either Hal Lindsey or Pat Robertson with Lindsey being the most likely. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/26 "2009-05-29T19:38:31Z")
First it was a brand, then a tattoo, more recently it’s barcode and embedded RFID as your permanent ID. Soon enough it’ll be a DNA scan, therefore everyone will have the MotB[SUP]TM[/SUP] encoded in their genome. Born with it even. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/27 "2009-05-29T20:08:36Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > The mark of the beast is 616 not 666 get with the times. 616 was the area code here for the longest time. Then they split the area up and gave our half a new area code cause of cellphones using up all the numbers. Moral of story: cellphones saved my soul.😛 ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/28 "2009-05-29T20:33:15Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > IBut basically, believers are going to interpret prophecies in whatever form reality presents itself currently. Something as vague as the “mark of the beast” could seriously be anything, from a birthmark to a microchip to a tattoo, you name it. Seventh Day Adventists believe that the Mark of the Beast is the fact that the Catholic Church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/29 "2009-05-29T22:00:55Z")
Hal Lindsey was a big proponent of the barcode explanation, back in the late 80s / Early 90s. He did switch to talking about microchip implants, but it’s difficult to say if he was the first to do so. 666.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 = the floating point approximation of the beast. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/30 "2009-05-29T22:45:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > 666.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 = the floating point approximation of the beast. 665.89778897992 = The Intel FDIV Bug of the Beast -666.66666E-666 = The Denormalized Number of the Beast 666.666.666.666 = The IP Address of the Beast (Note: Evil Bit must be set) I-666 = The Controlled-Access Divided Highway to Hell ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/31 "2009-05-29T22:58:45Z")
664 = The Next-Door Neighbor of the Beast I’ve heard the reason America doesn’t have a National I.D. card system is because too many fundies would assume it’s the mark of the beast and refuse to carry one. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/32 "2009-05-29T23:19:02Z")
666a - the Granny Annexe of the Beast ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/33 "2009-05-29T23:47:08Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I’m guessing they meant ‘ultra-violet’, because it seems like something trying to read IR-visible ink on a hot object like a living body would have a tough time of it. While I agree it’s likely that UV was intended, rather than IR, I feel compelled to point out that the quoted statement is not accurate. Humans do radiate IR, but being relatively cool, they radiate way down in the long IR. Short IR such as used in TV remotes and the like, while invisible to human eyes, is readily detected even against a background of fairly warm objects. To radiate at TV remote wavelengths, an object would have to be hotter than 700-800 degrees F. Nobody’s that hot. Not even that chick from the movies; you know the one. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/34 "2009-05-29T23:53:51Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > I am one of the few pentecostals who finds eschatology boring, but I would place the blame for this meme on either Hal Lindsey or Pat Robertson with Lindsey being the most likely. I used to wonder why that Barney Miller guy was talking about those things. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/35 "2009-05-30T00:02:20Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > I’m by no means an expert, but if you look at a barcode, two narrow strips indicate a number 6 (if on the left side of the barcode). (To guess the meaning of the number look at the numbers printed below and to what bars they correspond) > > There are three delimitator marks: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. Those are two narrow strips (always). > > However: a 6 in the second half isn’t represented the same way. And the code I’m referring to is by no means universal. Ahem. As someone who wrote software to print and decode over 9 different barcodes years ago, which makes me an expert, at least in an historic sense, let me say that you cannot “guess” the meaning of the bars in many cases without knowing the underlying code structure. Not all kinds of barcodes are the same in structure, and the numbers…well, the numbers are NOT usually printed below the bars that they represent, and NOT all encoded numbers are printed. Data is not always contained in bars, but sometimes spaces, sometimes both. The UPC code is one of the more complex (intentionally, to avoid charging you wrongly at the supermarket). It is divided into left and right parts, each of which have a different parity. There are guard bars, separation bars and multiple-width bars and spaces. I’m too lazy to look up URLS for this, but just to give you a flavor of what you are up against, read some text I once wrote in a barcode manual about UPC-A: > [@](#): > > Each character is 2 bars and 2 spaces. A character can be represented by either of two patterns, with odd or even parity. The left side characters are odd parity, they begin with a space and end with a bar. The right side characters are even parity; they begin with a bar and end with a space. Each character is formed from 7 modules, using 2 bars and 2 spaces. > > The start/stop codes (called “guard bars” in the UPC codes) are 2 bars and one space of one module each. In addition, there are center bars separating the left and right halves of the label. These are 3 spaces and 2 bars, all of one module width… From this, you are going to pick out a “666”?? Nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/36 "2009-05-30T00:04:53Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > So the 6 and the delimiter are the same narrow strips, but the delimiter is slightly longer in length than the numeric value strips in the barcode? Bar length has no meaning whatsoever in these kinds of codes (it does in 3D codes). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/37 "2009-05-30T00:55:35Z")
**Musicat** - are you saying you can’t even see what the 666-barcode nutcases are pointing at? I know they’re wrong, but can you see what they’re claiming to see? ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/38 "2009-05-30T00:59:10Z")
6x6 is the lumber of the beast. Especially the pressure-treated 6x6 posts. Ever get a splinter from one of them? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/39 "2009-05-30T01:09:44Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > I’m by no means an expert, but if you look at a barcode, two narrow strips indicate a number 6 (if on the left side of the barcode). (To guess the meaning of the number look at the numbers printed below and to what bars they correspond) > > There are three delimitator marks: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. Those are two narrow strips (always). > > However: a 6 in the second half isn’t represented the same way. And the code I’m referring to is by no means universal. Huh? The way I heard it, it simply goes: “Six digits on the left side. Six digits on the right side. And six delimiter lines. Ergo 666”. And the first barcode I’ve looked at supports this highly scientific hypothesis, looking like this (I can’t get the formatting / whitespace right but you get the idea): ``` |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ``` 5 || 017239 || 194801 || \> ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998/40 "2009-05-30T01:20:42Z")
[Here](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/stuff/EANUPC.png) is a picture of a subset of the characters/patterns that make up a UPC/EAN barcode. It is important to note that the representation of digits by these bar patterns only occurs in one half of the barcode - in the other half, the numbers are represented by different bar patterns. But the point is that the guard bars (the longer ones at the end) quite closely match the bars that represent the number 6 (in this half of the code, and only if you ignore the white space, which you shouldn’t). The nutters are wrong - the guard bars are not readable as the number 6 under any meaningful circumstances. They’re wrong, but what they’re misinterpreting isn’t entirely imaginary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-of-the-beast-microchip-when-was-it-invented/497998.md?page=3)