The meaning of the mark of the beast goes all the way back to Cain. That is where you begin the subject.
Recall that because of the curse God put upon Cain for murdering his brother Abel, Cain could not farm, as God cursed the land to him. And because Cain complained that by being cast out into the world that everyone finding him would want to kill him, God then put a 'mark' upon Cain as protection. Many have contemplated what that actual 'mark' upon Cain was, just as many do the same with the mark of the beast from Revelation. So to understand what the mark of the beast represents, one must first understand what kind of 'mark' it is, and how it relates to those deemed as 'brute beasts' (Jude 1; 2 Peter 2).
If Cain's mark was an actual physical outward mark, then wouldn't those in the world see it and recognize it? So looking for outward signs in that respect, which includes philosophical mumblings, isn't the way to learn from God's Word just what it is.