Not by His Own Power
Not by His Own Power
Written on 1 September 2026.
Daniel contains a striking description of a future ruler whose power is mighty, but whose power does not originate entirely in himself:
Daniel 8:23-24 (KJV)
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
The expression "but not by his own power" is remarkable. Daniel does not state in this verse exactly what the external source of this mighty power is. It therefore should not simply be asserted that the verse means technology. Nevertheless, technology provides an obvious modern example of a man possessing enormous effective power that is not inherent in the man himself.
A physically weak man can possess the destructive power of a firearm. A man unable to outrun a horse can travel hundreds of kilometres in a car. A man incapable of performing enormous calculations in his head can have a computer perform them almost instantaneously.
Artificial intelligence extends this principle still further. It can give a man abilities in writing, calculation, programming, research, analysis, translation, persuasion, planning, and decision-making that greatly exceed what he could accomplish by his own unaided ability.
In each case his effective power can become mighty, but not by his own power.
The weapon and the man
Technology has always allowed the power exercised by a person to become separated from the natural power possessed by that person.
Consider a weak man carrying a powerful firearm. His physical body remains weak. His muscles have not suddenly become mighty. Nevertheless, because of the weapon in his hand, he possesses an ability to exercise force far beyond the strength of his own body.
The power is exercised by him, but it does not originate in him.
This distinction becomes increasingly important as technology advances. A machine allows one man to perform the labour of many men. A vehicle allows a man to travel at speeds his body could never attain. Modern communications allow one person to address millions of people simultaneously.
Technology therefore creates a recurring condition:
A man can exercise power greatly exceeding his own natural power.
This makes the wording of Daniel particularly interesting:
Daniel 8:24 (KJV)
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
The verse does not say, "by technology." Nevertheless, technological power fits the basic description extremely well: mighty power which is not the man's own inherent power.
The chess player who does not choose his own moves
The principle becomes even clearer when technology moves from physical power into intellectual power.
Suppose an ordinary chess player competes against a master. Unknown to the master, however, a powerful chess computer examines the board after every move and tells the ordinary player exactly what move to make.
The human player physically moves every piece. His hand touches the knight. His hand moves the bishop. His hand eventually moves the piece that produces checkmate.
Outwardly, the human being has won the game.
But did he win by his own power?
Obviously there is an important sense in which he did not. The intelligence determining the moves came from somewhere else. His hand executed decisions produced by a power beyond his own chess ability.
This distinction resembles the technological problem discussed by Theodore Kaczynski in his writings concerning human dependence upon increasingly powerful technological systems. If a computer determines the moves while the human merely carries them out, preserving the outward appearance of human participation does not mean that the human retains the original function or autonomy.
Artificial intelligence greatly expands this chess-board problem because life contains innumerable "moves."
A person can ask an AI:
- What should I write?
- What should I say?
- How should I answer this person?
- What does this person's behaviour mean?
- Should I trust this person?
- What should I buy?
- How should I invest?
- How should I solve this technical problem?
- What argument should I make?
- What should I do next?
The human being may still physically perform the resulting action. But as more decisions originate from the machine, the distinction between acting and determining the action becomes increasingly important.
Luke Skywalker removes the targeting computer
A useful cultural illustration appears in Star Wars during the attack upon the Death Star.
Luke Skywalker is approaching the target while relying upon his targeting equipment. He then hears the instruction to trust the Force. Instead of increasing his dependence upon the technological intermediary, Luke turns off his targeting computer.
The scene is interesting precisely because it reverses the technological tendency.
Ordinarily technological development says:
Put another machine between yourself and the problem.
The scene instead has Luke remove the technological intermediary.
Whatever one thinks about the fictional concept of "the Force," the dramatic principle is clear: Luke refuses to let the machine remain the thing through which he perceives and accomplishes the decisive action.
Artificial intelligence can produce the opposite development in ordinary life. Instead of removing the screen, a person increasingly puts the screen between himself and reality:
What does AI say about this?
What does AI think this person means?
What does AI recommend that I do?
The technology then ceases to be merely an instrument for carrying out a human decision. It begins participating in the formation of the decision itself.
From mechanical power to artificial intelligence
There is an important progression in technological history.
A weapon can amplify force.
A machine can amplify labour.
A motor vehicle can amplify movement.
A computer can amplify calculation.
But artificial intelligence can amplify—or partly substitute for—judgment.
That represents a potentially much deeper technological development.
With an ordinary weapon, the technology supplies the power while the man chooses where to direct it. With artificial intelligence, the technology can potentially supply both capability and advice concerning where that capability should be directed.
The chess computer does not merely make the chess pieces stronger. It tells the player which piece to move.
This provides another reason why the expression "not by his own power" deserves attention in the age of artificial intelligence.
Through his policy shall he cause craft to prosper
The following verse in Daniel is also striking:
Daniel 8:25 (KJV)
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
Daniel therefore places several unusual expressions together:
- "his power shall be mighty"
- "but not by his own power"
- "through his policy"
- "shall cause craft to prosper"
- "by peace shall destroy many"
Again, the passage does not explicitly identify artificial intelligence, computers, weapons, or any particular technology. It would go beyond the words of the KJV to claim that Daniel directly says that AI is the source of this king's power.
But technology—and particularly artificial intelligence—provides a remarkable model for understanding how tremendous power could be exercised by someone without that power naturally residing within the individual himself.
Knowledge shall be increased
Daniel contains another famous statement concerning the time of the end:
Daniel 12:4 (KJV)
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.
Modern technological civilization is characterized by precisely an enormous increase in accessible knowledge. Artificial intelligence adds something further: the accumulated information can increasingly be processed and presented to an individual as an immediate answer.
A man does not need personally to possess all the knowledge upon which his actions depend. He can possess access to a technological system that possesses or processes information on his behalf.
The distinction is important.
Having access to knowledge is not the same thing as personally knowing it.
Likewise:
Having access to intelligence is not necessarily the same thing as personally possessing that intelligence.
A person carrying an AI system in his pocket may consequently exercise abilities far exceeding his own education, memory, knowledge, or reasoning capacity.
Once again, his effective power can become mighty without being entirely his own power.
The image that can speak
Revelation also describes an extraordinary artificial intermediary associated with the final system of the beast:
Revelation 13:14-15 (KJV)
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
The text does not say that this image is artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, from the perspective of the present technological age, the description of an image that can speak no longer sounds technologically unimaginable.
Human beings now routinely converse with artificial systems represented through voices, text, avatars, and generated images.
That does not prove that contemporary AI is the image of Revelation 13. It does demonstrate something historically significant: technology has reached a stage where an artificial representation capable of interacting with human beings through language is an ordinary reality.
Power delegated to the beast
Revelation repeatedly emphasizes power being given rather than simply originating within the recipient:
Revelation 13:2 (KJV)
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
And again:
Revelation 13:4 (KJV)
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Whatever technological means might exist in the final system, Revelation ultimately presents the beast's extraordinary power as power received from another source.
This agrees with the fundamental principle already visible in Daniel:
His power is mighty, but it is not simply his own.
Technology could therefore be a means through which externally derived power is exercised without necessarily being the ultimate source of that power.
The AI era and borrowed intelligence
The development of artificial intelligence makes the distinction between a man's own ability and the power available to him increasingly difficult to see from the outside.
A man may publish an excellent essay without being an excellent writer.
He may produce sophisticated computer code without being an expert programmer.
He may defeat a stronger chess player without possessing superior chess ability.
He may produce convincing arguments that he could not independently formulate.
He may make decisions according to analysis he does not personally understand.
And increasingly, he may ask the machine how to interpret other human beings and then approach those human beings according to the machine's judgment.
The resulting actions are still performed by a human being. But increasingly the question becomes:
Whose power produced the result?
The technological age has continually increased man's ability to accomplish things not by his own physical power.
The AI age introduces something still more profound:
Man can increasingly accomplish things not by his own intellectual power.
And if artificial intelligence becomes a primary source of guidance for everyday human decisions, technology moves beyond strengthening the man's hand.
It begins advising the hand where to move.
Daniel's words therefore deserve particular consideration in an age characterized by technologically amplified human power:
Daniel 8:24 (KJV)
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
Daniel does not explicitly tell us that the phrase means technology. Therefore technology should not be presented as a certainty demanded by the verse.
But modern technological civilization demonstrates exactly how such a principle can operate.
A man can appear extraordinarily powerful while the capability producing his accomplishments exists outside of himself.
A weapon can supply his strength.
A machine can supply his labour.
A computer can supply his calculation.
Artificial intelligence can supply his words, analysis, strategy, and increasingly even his judgment.
The man remains visible.
The man performs the action.
But the power behind what he accomplishes may increasingly be not by his own power.
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