Giant killer hornets!

I'm going to comment on a post by Alan Kurschner:

http://www.alankurschner.com/2013/10/04/giant-killer-hornets-a-type-of-eschatological-judgment/

Unlike Alan, I'm an oatmeal amil, so I interpret Revelation more symbolically than he does. For instance, I think the apocalyptic genre uses imaginary hybrids. That said, let's play along with his argument.

i) I agree with Alan that we shouldn't discount more "fantastic" interpretations on rationalistic or scientific grounds. For one thing, supernaturalism is a dominant feature of Revelation, with angels, demons, God, and Satan. The major players clearly have resources at their disposal that exceed nature.

ii) Prophecy raises the hermeneutical challenge of how to depict the distant future to the prophet's contemporaries. Now, up until the 19C, I don't think it made much difference. But once electricity was harnessed, the world began to look very different. So that raises the question of how we'd expect an ancient seer to depict advanced military technology. Assuming that he depicts the future in terms of what's familiar to his audience, the actual referents may be less recognizable. 

iii) Alan is citing the example of a scary, but naturally occurring organism. But to extend his argument, the monsters in Revelation needn't be naturally occurring organisms. They could be weaponized organisms, enhanced by bioengineering. In principle that could involve genetic engineering. Or it could involve robotic prosthetics. Cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) that combine organic and mechanical components, viz. bioelectronics. 

iv) Moreover, if we continue to extend the analogy, the monsters needn't even be organic. A seer might be depicting a predator drone as a giant hornet because an organic monster would be more intelligible to his ancient audience than an armed UAV.  The seer is using an organic analogue for a hitch machine. 

That's not how I interpret Revelation. And this goes well beyond exegesis. But it can't be ruled out.