Bizarre journey of barcode: From laser beams to antichrist fears
Most of us barely notice barcodes as we go about our daily shopping, but over the past 75 years, these little black-and-white markings have revolutionized the world. Barcodes have saved lives, ventured into space, and even sparked some rather bizarre conspiracy theories involving the Antichrist.
The story of the barcode’s invention reads like a sci-fi tale. It all started in 1969 when Paul McEnroe, an engineer at IBM, envisioned a futuristic way to speed up supermarket checkouts. "Lasers!" he declared. These scanners would read mysterious black-and-white patterns on products—what we now know as barcodes.
It was a bold idea. At the time, barcodes had never been used commercially, though the concept had been simmering since 1949, when one of McEnroe's colleagues, Joe Woodland, filed a patent for the idea. Woodland famously came up with the barcode while doodling lines in the sand on a beach.
However, McEnroe’s dream of laser-scanning groceries hit a roadblock: IBM's lawyers were terrified of "laser suicides." What if people deliberately injured their eyes with the scanners and sued the company? So, McEnroe turned to an unusual solution—testing the lasers on Rhesus monkeys. After the experiments showed no harm, IBM’s legal team finally relented, and supermarkets across the US began adopting barcode technology.
Barcodes soon became a global phenomenon, making the shopping experience faster and more efficient. But they haven’t been without controversy. In the early days, labor unions feared barcodes would eliminate jobs, and some customers were suspicious of prices no longer being stamped on each item. Yet, the most unusual pushback came from religious circles. In 1975, an article in *Gospel Call* suggested that barcodes might be "the Mark of the Beast," a reference to a biblical prophecy about the end of the world. The theory claimed barcodes could eventually be tattooed on people’s foreheads or hands, allowing them to buy and sell, just as the Book of Revelation foretold.
This idea spread even further with the publication of The New Money System in 1982, where author Mary Stewart Relfe argued that the number 666 was hidden within the lines of every barcode—a claim dismissed by the barcode’s co-inventor George Laurer as pure coincidence.
Yet, the theory persists. Some members of a Russian orthodox Christian group called Old Believers still refuse to use products with barcodes, seeing them as "the stamp of the Antichrist." Others go so far as to burn packaging with barcodes.
Despite these wild ideas, barcodes have proven incredibly useful. Beyond speeding up supermarket queues, they’ve played roles in industries ranging from healthcare to space exploration. Hospitals now use barcodes to track blood samples and medication, while astronauts on the International Space Station use them to manage equipment and supplies.
Interestingly, the barcode also has roots in Cold War espionage. McEnroe’s early work at IBM involved scanning CIA maps—a skillset that would later help him refine the barcode technology. This complex process boils down to a deceptively simple visual Morse code: black vertical lines, thick and thin, which machines can quickly read to identify products.
The barcode's journey is far from over. As technology advances, there’s a push to replace traditional barcodes with more data-rich QR codes. Still, the classic barcode is likely here to stay for the foreseeable future.
The most telling sign of the barcode’s success? We don’t think about it. What started as an outlandish idea involving lasers, monkeys, and fears of biblical prophecy has quietly embedded itself into nearly every aspect of modern life.
Source: BBC
