While the author of the linked article was at some pains to show that the Scriptural references to anti-Christ are nuanced, and don't easily fit into the sense of a one-world dictator, I'm of the opinion there will be such a person.
The author did include the following paragraph, almost as a waiver.
1. It is the man of lawlessness spoken of by St. Paul that most fits the charismatic figure of our “movie script,” a person able to unite the world in a false peace by mesmerizing and deceiving the nations. This lawless one will signal the end times. While I am not saying that these are the end times, I will note that the advent of instant, worldwide communication has made things easier than ever before for the lawless one. One individual actually could mesmerize and deceive all the nations—right on the worldwide web!
I agree that our global village of
instant, worldwide communication backed up by massive computer intelligence has made it much more likely for such a scenario to take place. What is lacking at the moment is a suitable excuse for such a position to take place.
As far as I'm concerned, it's also linked to the business about being unable to buy or sell unless one has the "mark of the beast" in the right hand or forehead. There is already technology around for this to take place, and most of us use it to a limited extent every day, when we buy electronically. I even make my church tithe electronically.
I've got a booklet at home put out by "The Commission for the Future" which was a committee set up by the then Hawke government (Bob Hawke died recently as a remark) in Australia in the 1980's back in the days when Australia won the long standing America's Cup for the first time in 1983 (which since seems to have lost some of its mystique extent).
The commission dealt with a few topics looking towards future developments, and the one report that I've got is ".... Towards a Cashless Society". In it they made the comment that a think tank of American lawyers in 1975 made the observation that the easiest way for a government to keep tabs on it's population would be the use of compulsory electronic banking, or if you like, the "cashless society". And there are already quite a number of businesses which won't accept cash. They'd know what you bought, where you bought it, how much you purchased, which bank the money came from, etc. etc.
Couple that with chips which are implantable as for example in Sweden, and we have the basis for a society in which "no-one could buy or sell unless he had the 'mark of the beast'".
Thousands Of Swedes Are Inserting Microchips Under Their Skin
I also remember my old Presbyterian pastor commenting to me once about the Illuminati (who supposedly no longer exist) that "I think they're alive and well". He didn't go in for last days speculation very much at all, and thought that a lot of the "last days theology" that came (mostly) from the USA on the topic was "a bit weird". He remarked, "The Europeans don't feel that way, and they've had a much longer experience of the Church and Christianity". But he had his suspicions about what might be going on in high places.
So I for one think there will still be a literal "anti-Christ".
