Prophecy

Existential threats in Revelation

Accidental nuclear winter is merely one of many ways humanity risks destroying itself. LLoL was struck to discover a thinly veiled list of existential threats — tracked by 21st-century science — in the 1st-century chapter 16 of Revelation. The correspondence suggests that human behavior at scale may be more predictable than commonly assumed, and that the patterns driving self-destruction have been recognizable for millennia.

Note

LLoL will expand this section with the specific correspondences between Rev. 16 and modern existential risk categories.

Confirmations in biblical prophecy

The wipe-out prophecies received by Ancient Laodicea

Ancient Laodicea boasted the largest stadion in Asia Minor at the time. It was regularly used for horse-races and other spectacles when Laodicea likely received Revelation as a letter.

The precise wording of Rev. 14:20 in ancient Greek allows for some ambiguity in the geometry of the 1,600 stadia described. Most commentators conclude that this must be a river of blood about the length of Palestine, because “stadion” was a standard length unit. They interpret the verse as “prophetic hyperbole,” since such a river of blood will never flow literally as a unified body of liquid.

However, a generalizing use of the word “stadion” may not be appropriate here. Laodicea was a recipient of Revelation as a letter, and there are reasons to see Laodicea as central to much of Revelation’s message.

If so, a completely different picture emerges. Not prophetic hyperbole, but a calculated estimate of a death toll — one that offers a point estimate as well as an implicit uncertainty range to define informative lower and upper bounds. The approach resembles Popper’s emphasis on falsifiable predictions: the estimate could be wrong, but it aligns with the independently extrapolated forecast of accidental nuclear winter based on historic Cold War data.

The Ancient Greek wording says in Rev. 14:20 that blood up to horses’ bridles came “from” (apo) 1,600 stadia. If Laodicea and its mathematicians were the recipients, it would be reasonable to expect that someone there would calculate how many people’s blood this represents using their local stadion.

Any literal interpretation yields a number that represents a complete extinction-level event for humanity. Rev. 19:21 confirms this reading. The value of Rev. 14:20 lies in the precision of the implied estimate — a way of communicating the scale of potential human extinction to audiences that may struggle to distinguish billions from millions.

The overlap of the estimated 8 billion figure with today’s world population — combined with the risks of accidental nuclear winter described above — led LLoL to search for an alternative interpretation of this verse.

LLoL’s proposal for ResearchCity, subdivided into 1,600 talent-stadia addressing well-defined topical areas, is motivated by the hope that a constructive, symbolic reading of these verses is possible. The alternative — that the problems driving humanity’s investment in nuclear weapons remain unresolvable until catastrophe strikes — is the outcome this project works to prevent.

Historical precedent: Laodicea’s fate

The urgency of this reading is underscored by historical precedent. Ancient Laodicea was destroyed as a Christian community during the reign of Emperor Phocas (602–610 CE). And shortly after Laodicea’s window of opportunity closed, the message that Laodicea apparently did not want to hear — that God cares for the poor and expects the same of those who claim to follow God — found a new audience through the rise of Islam.

The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE offers a parallel warning: the people of Jesus’ time held what they considered theologically certain promises — and those certainties did not protect them.

These historical patterns suggest that theological confidence without corresponding action is not a guarantee of safety. It is a recurring vulnerability.