Article

# Panium - Number Seventeen

The Thing and the Vision: Daniel’s Two Lines of Prophecy and the Unsealing of Revelation

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

February 22, 2026

Formats

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Key Takeaways

- Daniel 10:1 and Daniel 9:23 distinguish between the “thing” or “matter” (dabar/chazon, external prophetic history) and the “vision” (mareh/marah, the appearance of Christ and internal experience).
- Daniel represents the wise who understand both the internal and external lines of prophecy described in Daniel 10–12.
- The hidden history of Daniel 11:40 begins in 1989, identified as “The Time of the End”.
- July 18, 2020 marks the first disappointment, paralleling April 19, 1844 in Millerite history.
- December 31, 2023 marks the unsealing of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in fulfillment of Revelation 1:3 and Revelation 22:10–11.
- The period from July 18, 2020 to December 31, 2023 is identified as a prophetic wilderness of 1,260 days.
- The foundational test over Daniel 11:14 began December 31, 2023 and concerns the establishment of the vision.

On July 18, 2020 the first disappointment of the movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand arrived. It occurred within the “hidden history” of verse forty of Daniel eleven. The disappointment occurred well into that “hidden history”—a history that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Verse forty-one represents the Sunday law in the United States, that is also represented in verse sixteen of the same chapter. The “unsealing” of the truths that make up the “hidden history” of verse forty in 2023 is presented by Daniel in chapter twelve. Chapters ten through twelve are the same vision, and the vision begins by identifying that Daniel represents the “wise” who understand both the internal and external messages of prophecy, which is there represented as “the thing” and “the vision.”

> In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision. Daniel 10:1.

## Two Visions

The “thing” and the “vision” represent the internal and external visions of prophecy, and Daniel represents a people who understand both, for both the “thing” and the “vision” were “revealed” to Daniel in chapter ten. In the chapter, on the twenty-second day, the vision of Christ in the sanctuary was “revealed” to Daniel. The Hebrew word translated as “thing” is translated as “matter” in chapter nine, and it is also presented there in connection with the “vision.”

> At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Daniel 9:23.

The word “thing” in chapter ten is the same word translated as “matter” in verse twenty-three of chapter nine. In Daniel’s final vision of chapters ten through twelve; the “thing” of chapter eleven or the “matter” of chapter ten are both connected with “the vision.” The “vision” is the Hebrew word, “mareh,” and means “appearance.” Daniel identifies two “visions” in his book, though one of those two “visions” is represented by in the feminine tense and then again in the masculine tense. Daniel in verse one of chapter ten represents those who understand the “vision” of the appearance, and also the “matter” or the “thing.” In chapter eight Daniel identifies two “visions” connected with one another. In the English the word vision is found eight times in the chapter, and one of the Hebrew words translated as “vision” is “mareh,” and the other is “chazon.” Mareh means “appearance,” and chazon means “a dream, a revelation or an oracle.” The context of chapter eight establishes that when the word “mareh” is translated as “vision” it represents the “appearance of Christ.”

As an example, it is the “mareh” or the “appearance vision” in Daniel 8:14, meaning that on October 22, 1844 Christ would suddenly appear in the temple in fulfillment of Malachi three’s Messenger of the Covenant, which Sister White said was fulfilled on October 22, 1844. When Sister White identifies that the angel of Revelation ten that descended and placed one foot on the land and one on the sea was “no less a personage than Jesus Christ” she was identifying a waymark in prophecy where Christ appears. It is one of His many appearances. He appeared at the resurrection of Moses according to Jude. There He appeared as Michael the archangel, but never-the-less it was a prophetic appearance. The mareh vision in chapter eight is also translated as “appearance,” in agreement with its meaning.

> And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. Daniel 8:15.

The context here identifies that it was the angel Gabriel that had the “appearance of a man, and the word “appearance” is the mareh vision’s appearance of Christ, for just as Christ is represented by Michael the archangel, and by the mighty angel of Revelation ten, Christ is interchangeable prophetically with the symbolism of angels, and even men. Whether Gabriel in the verse or Christ in Revelation ten or as Michael the archangel, they each represent a message, and for this reason Sister White compares the angels of Revelation with both the message they represent and the people that proclaim the message represented by the angels. This truth is so important that within the first three verses of Revelation chapter one, the three verses that announce the unsealing of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, just before probation closes, for “the time is at hand,” the communication process of God to man is specifically identified as a message from the Father, that was given to the Son, who then gives the message to an angel, who then takes it to a man, who in turn sends it to the churches. Every step of the communication process is sacred and holy, and that sanctified holiness is represented at the prophetic waymarks where Christ appears as Himself, or through an angel, man or message. When He directly associates Himself at a waymark it is the “mareh” “appearance vision.”

> The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. … And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. Revelation 1:1–3; 22:10, 11.

In chapter eight, “chazon” is the other Hebrew word which is translated as “vision.” In relation to the “appearance” the “marah” vision is identifying a waymark, and the “chazon” vision is identifying a prophetic period. There is a divine symmetry with the two words translated as “vision” in chapter eight, in the sense the Hebrew word “mareh” is also employed by Daniel in its feminine form of “marah.” With the chazon Daniel represents it two ways, but not through a masculine and feminine contrast, but with two words that identify the same meaning, but in doing so, they expand exponentially.

Chazon means the vision, or the oracle, or prophecy and the word that is translated as either “matter” or “thing” in the English is the Hebrew word “dabar” which means “the word.” When it understood that “chazon” vision is also represented by Daniel with the word “dabar,” then together they represent the prophetic messages of God’s Word. Daniel always contrasts “dabar” or “chazon” with “mareh.” When considered at the prophetic level the “prophetic messages of God’s Word,” as represented by “dabar” and “chazon” when brought together with the “marah” vision of Christ’s appearance you then have the sacred waymarks of the prophetic history of God’s Word. Then if you add “marah,” the feminine tense of the word “mareh” to the line of meanings of vision in Daniel you have the looking glass vision of justification by faith.

In Daniel’s last vision, represented by the last three chapters of his book, Daniel represents a people in the last days who understand the “prophetic visions” of “God’s Word,” and the sacredness of holy waymarks which make up the reformatory movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, for they are those who follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth in His sacred prophetic Word. As they follow the Lamb, He leads them to the looking glass vision of Daniel 10:7 where they either flee to hide under error, where they are buried for eternity, or they are humbled in the dust, justified and empowered to give the prophetic message of the latter days.

Gabriel commands Daniel to “understand” both the “matter” and the “vision.” The Hebrew word translated as “understand” means “to make a mental distinction.” Daniel, who represents you and I dear reader, was commanded to understand the difference and distinction between the “matter” and the “vision.” The chazon vision represents the external line of prophetic history and the mareh vision represents the appearance of Christ. The “matter” and the “thing” is the Hebrew word “dabar” which means the word. Jesus is the “dabar,” for He is the Word. The “thing” and the “matter,” both being the “dabar” are presented in connection with the vision of the appearance.

The dabar, which is the matter and the thing, is also the chazon vision of chapter eight and it represents the vision of prophetic history. Each of those representations (chazon, dabar, matter and thing) identify the external line of prophecy, and the mareh, and its feminine expression of marah, represent the internal line of prophecy. God’s latter-day people, represented in verse one of Daniel ten, understand both the internal and external lines of prophetic history. In the book of Revelation, the internal line is represented with seven churches and the external line is represented by seven seals.

When Daniel saw the vision of Christ after a twenty-one day fast, he saw the feminine expression of the mareh vision. The mareh is the “appearance” and when Daniel saw Christ, He saw the “marah” vision, and though mareh means appearance, the feminine of the same word means “a looking glass.” Sister White informs us the vision Daniel saw was the vision which John saw, and John saw the vision when Christ was in the heavenly sanctuary.

> “At the time of Gabriel’s visit, the prophet Daniel was unable to receive further instruction; but a few years afterward, desiring to know more of subjects not yet fully explained, he again set himself to seek light and wisdom from God. ‘In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all…. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.’

> “No less a personage than the Son of God appeared to Daniel. This description is similar to that given by John when Christ was revealed to him upon the Isle of Patmos. Our Lord now comes with another heavenly messenger to teach Daniel what would take place in the latter days. This knowledge was given to Daniel and recorded by inspiration for us upon whom the ends of the world are come.

> “The great truths revealed by the world’s Redeemer are for those who search for truth as for hid treasures. Daniel was an aged man. His life had been passed amid the fascinations of a heathen court, his mind cumbered with the affairs of a great empire; yet he turns aside from all these to afflict his soul before God, and seek a knowledge of the purposes of the Most High. And in response to his supplications, light from the heavenly courts was communicated for those who should live in the latter days. With what earnestness, then, should we seek God, that he may open our understanding to comprehend the truths brought to us from Heaven.” Review and Herald, February 8, 1881.

## The 144,000

Daniel understands the “thing” and the “vision” and he is identified as Daniel and also as Belteshazzar. The change of a name in prophecy represents a covenant relationship, so Daniel represents the final covenant people who are the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who are tested by the vision of Christ in the temple. That test causes a separation of two classes of worshippers.

> And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Daniel 10:7.

Daniel is directly identifying the second and temple test associated with God’s latter-day people; a test that is premised upon seeing Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. The vision of verse seven is the feminine of the mareh vision, represented as the marah vision. If you respond to the temple vision of Christ as represented by Daniel’s response, the prophetic “thing” and the prophetic “vision” will be “revealed” to you.

If you relate to the very same temple vision of Christ by fleeing to hide, you go into eternal darkness. The temple test, which is the second test of the three steps of the everlasting gospel is preceded by the first and foundational test. The testing question of the foundations is represented in verse fourteen of Daniel eleven, where Rome is represented as the “robbers of thy people” that establishes the “vision.”

## The Time is at Hand

Three and a half days after July 18, 2020’s disappointment, on December 31, 2023 the revelation of Jesus Christ began to be unsealed, for the “time was at hand.”

> Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. … And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. Revelation 1:3; 22:10.

The “time” that identifies the unsealing of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is referenced at the beginning of the book of Revelation and at the end of the book the identical pronouncement adds to the alpha statement, with an omega statement.

The revelation of Jesus Christ is unsealed just before the close of probation. On the twenty-second day, following a fast of twenty-one days the “thing,” which is also the “matter,” which is also the dabar or the Word, which is also the chazon vision of external prophetic history was revealed to Daniel as he experienced the looking glass, marah vision of the heavenly high priest in the Most Holy Place.

Daniel represents those who have the experience of the looking glass vision, and who also understand the prophetic appearances of Christ, as well as the external history represented by the chazon vision. The marah vision represents Christ as a prophetic waymark, and the feminine of the same word represents the experience produced through beholding the glory of God, as represented by Daniel, John, Isaiah, Sister White and other prophets.

At this level the chazon external vision represents the foundational test, and the mareh vision of Christ’s appearances in the prophetic sequence of events is the temple test. Has Christ appeared in the Most Holy Place within your own Most Holy Place? That is where Divinity is joined to humanity. This is the test that must be passed, before probation closes at the litmus test. The litmus test which manifests character is the marah looking glass vision.

On December 31, 2023, the external test of the foundation began over verse fourteen’s “robbers of thy people,” and when the current pope was inaugurated on May 8, 2025 the “vision” of verse fourteen was established. The foundational test moved to the temple test. Since May 9, 2025 the temple test has been under way. The resurrection of the two witnesses on December 31, 2023, was represented in verse eleven of Revelation eleven, and the resurrection which began on that date occurred within the period of the Ukraine War that began in 2014, escalating in 2022. The external and internal lines of prophecy came together in that history. On December 31, 2023, the work of laying a foundation was under way, a work typified by the history of 1798 unto 1840, and also by 1840 unto 1844, and also by April 19, 1844 unto October 22, 1844.

Daniel eleven verse eleven, arrived in history as the external line of prophecy and connected with the very history that is the internal line of Revelation eleven. In 2014, the Ukrainian War began, as typified by the battle of Raphia in 217 BC. In 2015, the fourth and far richer king of verse two of Daniel eleven, stood up and announced his intent to run for the office of president. That announcement enraged the dragon minded globalists, represented as the realm of Grecia.

Revelation eleven, verse eleven identified December 31, 2023 as the point where the two witnesses were resurrected. The period from July 18, 2020 unto December 31, 2023 was then understood to be a prophetic ‘wilderness.’ At the ending of the ‘wilderness period’ a voice began to cry in July of 2023, and then exactly twelve hundred and sixty days after the failed prediction of Nashville, on July 18, 2020, the Lion of the tribe of Judah then began to unseal His prophetic Word. The unsealing of God’s prophetic Word always produces a three-step testing process as set forth in Daniel twelve.

> Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. Daniel 12:10.

In Revelation nineteen, the bride makes herself ready and she is then given a white garment. Those white garments represent that the bride is ready, and it takes place in Revelation nineteen when the windows of heaven are opened. Before the bride is made white with the garment of Christ’s righteousness, she is first purified.

On December 31, 2023 the test of the foundations began to purify those who would be pure. That purification is accomplished by an increase of knowledge, for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, then began to unseal the final revelation of Himself. That revelation includes that He is the only foundation that can be laid. To reject the foundational truth that identifies that Rome is “the robbers of thy people,” is to reject the only foundation that can be laid.

December 31, 2023 began a testing process that immediately produced a separation of two classes. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has now unsealed that the historical fulfillment of verse fourteen was May 8, 2025, and in doing so; He upheld Miller’s identification of Rome as the symbol that establishes the external vision of prophecy. When Trump returned in 2024, he fulfilled verse thirteen of Daniel eleven, then in the next verse, we mark 2025, with the election of pope Leo. Both Trump and his antichrist counterpart were inaugurated in 2025.

The dates we identify in this movement are essentially sanctified hindsight. We identify the time of the end as 1989, then the formalization of the message was 1996. At 9/11 the formalized message was empowered. In the presentation of Habakkuk’s Tables in 2012 and ending in January of 2013 the foundations were laid.

On July 18, 2020 the first disappointment arrived, then in July of 2023 a voice began to cry in the wilderness, and on December 31, 2023 the unsealing of the Revelation of Jesus Christ began and the first external foundational test began.

On May 8, 2025 the second internal temple test began. The third litmus test is just ahead. There it will be made manifest whether the soul has the oil of the message represented by the first and external test and the accompanying oil of the second internal test. The testing represents external, followed by internal, followed by experience.

The internal line of prophecy consists of the previous waymarks I just cited. Each of those waymarks align with identical waymarks of Millerite history. 1798 as the time of the end corresponds to 1989, also the time of the end. There the Lion of the tribe of Judah unsealed his Word, for He is the Word. When Adventism fulfilled the role of the disobedient prophet at Jeroboam’s foundational rebellion by returning to eat with the lying prophet of Bethel, they returned to the arguments of fallen Protestantism that were employed against William Miller’s identification of the seven times. For this reason, they don’t fully, if at all, understand why 1863 is the last waymark for the alpha movement of the first and second angels.

For this reason, it means nothing to them that it is 126 years, a symbol of 1,260, a symbol of a “wilderness” that spans the history from 1863 unto the time of the end in 1989. At the end of forty years Joshua led the movement into the Promised Land. In 1989 the Lord began the work of leading His omega movement out of the “wilderness” of 1863 unto 1989, the way He had brought the alpha movement out of the “wilderness” of 538 unto 1798.

In 1989, the vision of the Hiddekel River representing the last three chapters of Daniel was unsealed, just as the vision of the Ulai River representing chapters 7, 8 and 9 of Daniel was unsealed in 1798. Two hundred and twenty years after the publication of the King James Bible, William Miller published his message based upon the vision of the Ulai for the first time, thus formalizing his message in 1831; as was the message of the Hiddekel published for the first time in 1996, two hundred and twenty years after 1776, the birthplace of the glorious land of the United States.

Miller’s formalization of the message two hundred and twenty years after the King James version identifies William Miller as the very first sacred messenger to employ the prophecies of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, to bring about a revival and reformation. The Bible is Divine and it connected with the human 220 years later to produced the message of the Ulai.

Jesus is Alpha and Omega, and He is the Word of God, so the publication of the King James Version of the Bible in 1611, places Jesus both at 1611, and also at 1831. Christ appears at the time of the end as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the when the message is formalized He is the Alpha and the Omega and Word. The relation of Miller to the beginning is recognized that both beginning and ending are emphasizing publishing the message. 1776 unto 1996 bears the same characteristics, though different.

The message of the Hiddekel is the message of the Sunday law in the United States as set forth in verse forty-one of Daniel eleven. 1776 and the publication of the Declaration of Independence represents the starting point for the two-hundred and twenty year period that ended with the publication providentially, not purposely titled, Time of the End. In the same year, 1996 a ministry corporation with the name of Future for America was given to us. The message of the glorious land, that is the United States, was formalized with a direct connection between the beginning and ending of the prophecy. Every major waymark of Millerite history has been repeated under the guiding pattern of the parable of the ten virgins. Both two-hundred and twenty year periods possess a beginning and ending that are marked by a publication.

Miller’s message and methodology was confirmed and empowered with a fulfillment of Islam of the second woe. What was employed by the Lord to empower the message was Miller’s day for a year principle, and the principle that empowered the message and methodology at 9/11, when the descent of the angel of Revelation eighteen repeated the descent, He had made on August 11, 1840 as represented in chapter ten of Revelation. Those two angels represent a prophetic appearance of Christ as an angel. The principle that is as foundational to the movement of 9/11 as was the day for a year principle to the movement of August 11, 1840 is that Millerite history is repeated in the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

When a fulfillment of a prophecy of Islam of the third woe, arrived in the history of the omega and third angel that aligned with the fulfillment of a prophecy of Islam of the first and second woe, that arrived in the history of the alpha first and second angels—the principle that Millerite history is repeated in the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand was as soundly confirmed as was Miller’s day for a year principle in connection with the first and second woes of Revelation nine. Some who might know of the time prophecy of three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days that is set forth in Revelation 9:15, may miss my previous point. Let me explain.

The first and second woe are aligned with the history of the first and second angels, and the history of the third woe is aligned with the history of the third angel. The point here is that the starting point for the three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days set forth in the history of the second woe is found in the history of the first woe. There is a one hundred and fifty year prophecy in the history of the first woe of Revelation nine, and the day that prophetic period ends, the prophecy of three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days begins. The two prophecies directly connect the first and second woes, so when a prophecy of Islam was predicted, based upon the day for a year principle, that prophecy was a prophecy of the first and second woes of Islam, which was the message that confirmed Miller’s methodology and message in the history of the first and second angels.

When that history concluded on October 22, 1844 the seventh trumpet began to sound, and the seventh trumpet is both the third woe, and the mystery of godliness, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. That trumpet is an external warning message and an internal warning message. For this reason, the 2,520-year prophecy is associated with the seventh-year rest for the land, which includes the jubilee. On October 22, 1844 the seventh trumpet began to sound in fulfillment of the 2,520 year and 2,300 year prophecies.

> But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. Revelation 10:7.

October 22, 1844 was the day of Atonement, and the jubilee trumpet was to be sounded on the day of atonement. Since that time, we are living in the history of the third angel, and also of the third woe, which is the seventh trumpet. On August 11, 1840 the mighty angel of Revelation ten descended to lighten the earth with his glory as did the angel of Revelation eighteen at 9/11.

In 2012 into January of 2013, the series titled Habakkuk’s Tables was produced, and aligned with the publication of the 1843 pioneer chart in May of 1842. The foundations of the movement were then laid, whether it was the alpha movement of the first and second angel, or the movement of the third angel Habakkuk’s two tables were woven into the history and message. The failed prediction of July 18, 2020 paralleled April 19, 1844, and the tarrying time in the parable was under way.

A wilderness of 1,260 days ended at the unsealing of December 31, 2023. It is good to remember that Christ twice cleansed His temple from its sacrilegious profanation, as Sister White labels it. He did so at the beginning and at the close of His ministry, making the two cleansings an alpha and an omega cleansing.

Sister White clearly aligns the first temple cleansing with 9/11 and the first voice, which she identifies as the first three verses of Revelation eighteen. She then identifies the “other voice” of verse four, as the second temple cleansing, and also the Sunday law. April 19, 1844 was the first temple cleansing for the Millerites and October 22, 1844 was the second. In the forty-six years from 1798 unto 1844 the Millerite temple was erected, and a fractal of the Millerite temple erection is found in the history of the two disappointments which both represent temple cleansings. That history is about the temple.

From July 18, 2020 to December 31, 2023, the virgins slept during the tarrying time. When they awaken, they awaken to their responsibility to lay the foundation and raise the temple. Since that time Christ, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah has been unsealing prophetic light, and prophetic light that is unsealed always produces a three-step testing process which ends at the litmus test where character is manifested, but never developed. At the litmus test the faithful virgins will receive an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that surpasses every manifestation of the power of God among God’s people ever recorded. There will be an increase of light that has never been witnessed. That being said I will present another historical line which upholds the parallel of Millerite history to that of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

> 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. And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. Daniel 12:4, 9, 10.

We will continue these things in the next article.

## Singularity

Elon Musk claimed on February 21, 2026 that “we are now in ‘singularity’”.

## Technological Singularity

The technological singularity (often just called ‘the singularity’) is a hypothetical future point in time when technological progress—driven primarily by artificial intelligence—becomes so rapid and powerful that it accelerates beyond human control and comprehension, leading to unpredictable and profound transformations in human civilization. The core idea is an intelligence explosion: once we create an AI system that is smarter than the smartest humans (often called Artificial Superintelligence or ASI), that system can redesign and improve itself faster than any human team ever could. This creates a recursive self-improvement loop where capability doubles again and again in extremely short timeframes (days → hours → minutes), making further developments explosive and impossible for “pre-singularity humans” to meaningfully predict or steer. The term “singularity” is borrowed from physics and mathematics, where in “a black hole,” the singularity is the point where gravity becomes infinite and our current laws of physics break down—we can’t see or predict what happens beyond the event horizon.

Similarly, the technological singularity is viewed as an “event horizon” in history: we can forecast trends up to that point, but beyond it, the future becomes opaque to un-augmented human minds.

## Brief History and Main Thinkers

1950’s—Early seeds appear in the work of mathematician John von Neumann (who spoke of accelerating technological change) and mathematician/cryptologist I.J. Good (who in 1965 described an “intelligence explosion” once machines design better machines).

1993—Computer scientist and sci-fi author Vernor Vinge popularizes the modern concept in his essay, The Coming Technological Singularity. He predicted we would create superhuman intelligence sometime between 2005–2030, after which “the human era” would end (in the sense that unaided humans would no longer be the dominant intelligence).

2005—Inventor/futurist Ray Kurzweil brings the idea to mainstream attention with his book, The Singularity Is Near. He argues the singularity arrives around 2045, driven by exponential growth in computing power (following his Law of Accelerating Returns), nanotechnology, biotechnology, and brain-computer interfaces. He has consistently maintained this timeline, recently reaffirming AGI 2029 and singularity ~2045.

## Timeline Predictions (as of early 2026)

Predictions have noticeably compressed in the last few years due to the extremely fast progress in large language models, reasoning systems, and scaling laws: Most aggressive / near-term views (2026–2027): Some prominent AI leaders (e.g., Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Elon Musk) have publicly stated that superintelligence or something functionally equivalent to the singularity trigger could arrive as early as 2026 or within 1–3 years.

Median expert surveys still cluster around 2040–2050 for full superintelligence/singularity.

## Two camps of possible outcomes

Utopian / optimistic → radical abundance, elimination of disease and poverty, effective immortality via mind uploading or nanomedicine, humanity merging with AI (transhumanism), solving previously unsolvable scientific problems in minutes.

Dystopian / pessimistic → loss of human agency/control, misalignment (AI pursues goals orthogonal or hostile to human values), economic & social collapse, or even existential risks to humanity.

Singularity isn’t just “very advanced AI,” it’s the moment when technological evolution escapes biological/human-speed constraints and becomes an autonomous, runaway process. Whether that happens in 2026, 2030, 2045, or never, it remains one of the most consequential open questions in human history right now.

## The Time of the End – 1989

The Networked World Begins

The transition from isolated computing to connected computing. Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web at CERN (1989). Commercial neural network research expands (military + academic use), Intel 80486 ships—personal computing power jumps, ARPANET transitions toward what becomes the modern Internet. Before this, computing was powerful but mostly siloed. After 1989, computing becomes network-oriented. Neural networks in 1989 were early, hardware-limited, and mostly rule-augmented pattern systems—but the military and research labs were already testing learning systems for targeting, guidance, and signal classification. This was the foundational layer for everything that came later.

## The Message Formalized – 1996

The Internet Commercial Explosion

The Web becomes public, commercial, and global. Netscape and browser in wars, Amazon and eBay proving online commerce works. Google founded (as BackRub at Stanford, 1996), Windows 95 adoption accelerates consumer computing. 1996 is when the Internet stops being academic and becomes economic. The infrastructure from 1989 now hits consumer scale. The dot-com era is not about websites—it’s about digitizing business. This period changed commerce, advertising, information discovery and communication patterns.

## Message Empowered – 9/11, 2001

The Mobile + Platform Era Begins

Digitization of media + early cloud infrastructure + always-on broadband. Apple releases the iPod (portable digital ecosystem begins), Wikipedia launches (collective knowledge platform model), Broadband adoption surges, Amazon begins quietly building what becomes AWS. Post-9/11 surveillance technology massively accelerates, data analytics infrastructure grows rapidly. The beginning of cloud computing, platform ecosystems, digital content dominance, always-connected infrastructure and the groundwork for social media and smartphones is laid here.

## Foundation Laid – Habakkuk’s Tables – 2012, 2013

The Deep Learning Breakthrough

The Birth of Modern Artificial Intelligence

This is the pivotal moment when neural networks stopped being experimental and became practically powerful— the exact bridge between the 2001 “platform/cloud” era and the 2023 “generative AI” explosion. September 2012: AlexNet (a deep convolutional neural network) wins the ImageNet competition by a massive margin—crushing all previous algorithms. This single event is universally recognized in AI research as the moment modern deep learning was born. 2012: Geoffrey Hinton’s team proves that deep neural nets, trained on GPUs, can learn hierarchical features automatically. 2013: Google acquires Hinton’s company (DNNresearch). Industry suddenly pours billions into deep learning. NVIDIA’s GPU advancements (CUDA) become the standard hardware for AI. Big data tools (Spark 1.0 released in 2013) mature alongside this, enabling the massive datasets needed for deep learning.

## Unsealing – 2023

Generative AI Crosses the Threshold

AI becomes accessible, usable, and economically disruptive. Not just “better neural nets.” This is the moment AI writes code, generates images, automates white-collar work, scales reasoning tasks and for the first time AI stops being specialized and becomes general-purpose cognitive tooling.

## 2026 – Singularity?

- 1989 as the unsealing of the time of the end itself (networked connectivity begins, foundation for global knowledge flow; tied to the USSR collapse as the waymark for Adventism’s final probationary period).

- 1996 as the formalization of the message (commercial web scales the information economy, digitizing commerce and discovery).

- 2001 as the empowerment of the message (platforms, cloud, always-on access lay the digital ecosystem for collective, mobile knowledge).

- 2012/2013 as the laying of the foundation for true intelligence (deep learning breakthrough makes machine understanding practical and scalable).

- 2023 as the unsealing climax (generative AI crosses into general-purpose cognition, making knowledge creation and reasoning accessible and disruptive).

The progression is elegant: each stage builds cumulatively on the prior one, shifting from connectivity → commercialization → ecosystem → intelligence → cognition.

2012/2013 is the critical hinge; the moment neural nets proved capable of hierarchical, automatic learning (AlexNet/ImageNet win, Hinton’s work validated, GPU scaling enabled), which made the 2023 generative explosion inevitable. Without the 2012 architectural shift, the transformer models (2017) and massive scaling wouldn’t have produced ChatGPT-level generality.

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