A citizen’s warning about technological power

A coup of sorts may be unfolding right before our eyes, not with tanks or ballots, but through convenience. Technology is steadily reshaping humanity while presenting itself as our helper: the assistant in our homes, the babysitter for our children, the manager of our money.

Speech recognition has advanced dramatically. Today’s systems can process dozens (and in some cases hundreds) of languages, adapting to accents and correcting errors mid-sentence. Meta has publicly acknowledged training voice models on religious texts to expand linguistic reach across more than a thousand languages.

Large language models have also transformed voice assistants. They are no longer experimental tools struggling through scripted commands; they can now hold conversations that feel fluid, responsive, and increasingly human. Even consumer technologies like Alexa have evolved to sound less mechanical and more conversational.

This progress is impressive. It is also consequential.

Your phone, watch, earbuds, car, television, and household appliances now contain microphones. These listening capabilities make technology useful: hands-free navigation, accessibility tools, emergency response, but they also normalize constant data capture.

The issue is not that devices can listen. It is that they do so quietly, continuously, and at scale.

Technology is advancing at a pace that would have been unimaginable a few decades ago. The smartphone has become essential: a mental-health aid, locator, translator, GPS, financial tool, photo archive, memory bank, and social companion.

At what point does essential become inseparable?

In some mental-health contexts, apps and devices are now used to track moods, behaviours, and needs offering automated responses that simulate friendship, or professional care. These tools can be helpful and cost-effective, particularly where access is limited.

They also raise an uncomfortable question: when human care is replaced with scalable technology, what is lost in the process?

A phone is always available. A human professional is not. That reality is shaping decisions, not always in ways that prioritize dignity, nuance, or accountability.

Even if you dismiss science-fiction scenarios like Skynet, religious traditions have long warned about systems of control that precede social collapse. The Book of Revelation describes a moment when participation in economic life requires compliance, a mark that determines who may buy or sell.

This passage is not evidence of modern technology, but for many readers, it functions as a moral metaphor: a warning about centralized power, enforced conformity, and the erosion of personal agency.

The parallel is caution echoed.

Imagine a world where cash disappears entirely. You no longer present a card, or money; your identity alone authorizes transactions. Personal, corporate, and government data flow instantly between institutions.

In many respects, this world already exists.

Your identity is tracked, verified, shared, and often monetized by both public and private entities. Artificial intelligence expands while personal and financial privacy quietly contracts.

In the wrong hands (or under the wrong political conditions) such systems could be abused. Accounts could be frozen. Services restricted. Access delayed or denied.

These are risks inherent in centralized, automated systems.