The Mark of the Beast is so close to reality, that debates amongst those who say it is not fulfilment of Rev. 13:15-17, deal only with technicalities. No doubt there will be changes in implant and scanner technology over the next few years, but not even the skeptics would deny that the business world is committed to eventually using a form of marketing technology that was predicted in the Bible nearly 2,000 years ago. And the prophecy says that the technology comes from the Antichrist. Either you act on that information or you toss God and the Bible out.
Considering the dire warning that the prophecy gives about accepting the Mark, one would have to be virtually dead spiritually to continue with the materialistic lifestyle that so much of the world (including almost all churchgoers) continues to pursue and to take for granted today.
At the moment, for most of the West, it is not as though they would have to risk death in order to just "play it safe" and live as the early Christians did. There is abundant wealth in our society, and there are a host of safety nets to help anyone who might wish to experiment with a lifestyle which is more concerned with spiritual things than it is with getting a new wardrobe or a bigger car. But still they choose to reject the way of Jesus.
With or without the Mark, the world (again, including the churches) continues to put its faith in, and to spend its life working for, the tokens that they wrongly believe will buy them happiness.