It’s funny because it’s a reference to a common way to encode/obscure the name of someone, not literally a mark on the most evil person spawned from hell, and with all we know today people still believe it’s a physical mark that will identify evil or turn one towards evil. That shit is hilarious.
The context, though, is: "[The second beast] causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark". That sounds like a literal mark to me, not just a hash function.
Using a numeric hash of the name instead of the text form also makes sense, just like the way TLS certificates use hashes of the domain name (and other details).
I guess I just don't see the funny side because what is described in Revelation is reminiscent of both terrible abuses of the past and modern day infringements of rights.
[0] https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/article/tattoos-in-roman-world...
I nonetheless do still find it funny that people in the information age still believe in bronze age concepts used to describe the world.
The Church, as an institution, is dying. In their death throes they are basically doing everything they can to turn back the clock on society to a time they played an important role in dictating how we live. Every societal problem we have today is a result of Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions preaching their versions of ignorance and intolerance, every single Saturday and Sunday to millions and millions of Americans across the country.
Economic conservatives hate ignorance too - you need math skills to count your profits and to best gauge how to screw over your minimum wage employees, an accurate sense of history and economics in order to best manipulate markets and legal skills to avoid IRS and SEC penalties. They are just as frustrated with general stupidity as the rest of us.
But religious conservatives? They're fucking insane. They really, really, really believe what the Church tells them, and the shit the Church says is truly, truly, batshit crazy and has been for millennia. I personally know of people who truly worry about the "mark of the beast" from the COVID vaccination because that's what their Church says. In 2021 this should not be possible.
Until the secular American people realize who the real enemy is and go after the Church and all its leaders, in real, concrete ways, we're going to spend the rest of our lives dealing with this shit.