John Titor
|
John Titor's military insignia. |
John Titor was the name used for a purported
time traveller from the year
2036 that posted on several time travel-related
Internet bulletin boards during
2000/
2001, making many ambiguous, but seemingly
falsifiable, predictions about events in the near future and giving an account of his supposed native time period. Whether or not John Titor was a
hoax has been a topic of controversy on web-based
paranormal discussion boards.
 |
The IBM 5100 Portable Computer |
The postings claimed Titor to be a serving soldier who was assigned to a government time travel project. He was supposedly sent from 2036 back to
1975 to retrieve an
IBM 5100 computer which he claimed was needed to "debug" various legacy computer programs in 2036. The postings also described various future events between
2005 and
2037, including
World War III (predicted for
2015) followed by two decades of recovery.
One such prediction, which seems eerily prescient today, notes the escalating conflict between Arabs and Jews as being a harbinger of
World War III:"Real disruptions in world events begin with the destabilization of the West as a result of degrading US foreign policy and consistency. [...] The Jewish population in Israel is not prepared for a true offensive war. They are prepared for the ultimate defense. Wavering western support for Israel is what gives Israel's neighbors the confidence to attack. The last resort for a defensive Israel and its offensive Arab neighbors is to use weapons of mass destruction. In the grand scheme of things, the war in the Middle East is a part of what's to come, not the cause."
Along with the prediction of World War III, another notable prediction is that of a
Civil war in America, which was predicted to begin in
2004, around the time of the presidential election, and would escalate until
2008, which, according to Titor, "[is] a general date by which time everyone will realize the world they thought they were living in was over."
Another prediction was that 2004 would be the last year in which the
Olympic Games would occur. This seems at odds with real-world events as the
2006 Winter Olympics began
February 10,
2006. However there has been some argument as to whether the Winter Olympics was included in the prediction. Some have also speculated as to whether the predictions made by Titor were predicting only one course of the future, suggesting humans may have created an alternate future by going about things differently. This is an example of the many possible interpretations of Titor's seemingly specific predictions.
When asked about the mechanisms of the time traveling, he replied that he was no engineer. When asked to use the time machine to do something paradoxical (i.e., kill his grandfather) he replied that that would only affect this universe, but not his. He appeared to imply that there were many worldlines, and his time machine could not control its outgoing destination exactly, but could return to a worldline exactly similar to his own home. (It would be a different "
Worldline" but would be exactly the same in his perspective as when he left). His originating "worldline" would in turn, receive a John Titor exactly similar to the original. Therefore, his original "worldline" would indeed receive the benefit of his mission.
The "worldline" theory corresponds with a current scientific hypothesis known as the
Multiverse (science).
The following images were posted by John Titor in response to questions concerning the construction of his
time machine.
| A cutaway diagram supplied by John Titor of his time machine |
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These are taken from
John Titor's original statements and summarised.
*A Second American Civil War from 2004-2008, during which
civil liberties would be surrendered under the guise of
National security*An event similar to the "
parting of the Red Sea" will occur in
2012.
*Third World War in
2015, a gradual global escalation that was ended by
Russia bombing American, European and Chinese cities.
**John suggests "avoiding
Washington DC" at approximately 3:45am, March 12, 2015.
**Sometime before this point (referred to as "N-Day") China forcefully annexes
Japan,
Korea and
Taiwan.
**
Chemical and
Biological weapons are used, and some "
non-lethal" weapons turned out to be quite lethal.
**
Australia successfully repels a Chinese invasion.
**The war kills over 3 billion people.
*Post-war
**Communities of survivors gathered and grew around
libraries and
universities.
**The
United States split into five regions based on various factors and differing military objectives.
**The
US Constitution was changed by a Constitutional Congress.
***A
President is elected for each of the five major areas of the US.
***The powers of the union government are more defined and reside at the county and state level.
***The
Vice President is elected separately.
***The US Capital is in
Omaha,
Nebraska.
*Life in
2036:
**
Society***
Military service plays a large part in day-to-day life.
***
Capital Punishment is still implemented.
***Communities have returned to a family/community centred state, advised by elders.
***
Texas is Hispanized.
**
Religion and
Beliefs***Religion is far more personal and plays a major part in day-to-day life.
***The
Ten Commandments have been restored to the "10" that God gave
Moses.
***
Sabbatarianism, or worship on Saturday is a common practice.
**
Technology***
Wireless internet is
ubiquitous.
***
Television and
Telephony are delivered via the Web.
***Books and other hard media are now distributed online and printed from local hubs.
***
Napster distributes music, but
Microsoft and
Yahoo no longer exist.
***
Power is not distributed over long distances.
Alternate forms of generation are common, the most prevalent being
solar.
**
Environment***The environment is heavily affected by
radiation. The lack of
potable water is the biggest environmental issue.
***
Global Warming has had little effect.
Temperature is about the same although there were anomalies after the war.
**Health
***The
birth rate is much lower, due to a high number of birth defects and stillbirths.
***Mad Cow, or
vCJD in humans, is a devastating public health problem.
***Cures for
AIDS and
Cancer have not been found.
Viral therapy is used for Cancer.
* In
2003, the John Titor Foundation published a book,
John Titor A Time Traveler's Tale, discussing his claims (ISBN 1591964369).
* In
2004,
Cyburbia Productions presented
Time Traveler Zero Zero, a stage performance based on the Titor story.
* In
2005, Figure 26 Films produced a film,
Obsessed & Scientific, a film which touches upon time travel and includes the story of John Titor.
As the dates have passed, and the events non-occurances seem to indicate to a hoax. From a scientific point of view, an attempt from travelling from one 'worldline' to another would be impossible, at this moment, and with foreseeable knowledge, forever. This is due to the theory of relativity. The only way to travel back in time is to travel faster than the speed at which time moves forward, thus, travelling faster than the speed of light. There is no foreseeable way to do this so far.If he is travelling back into other worldlines, then assuming there is a world line for everytime we have a decision (eg one world line breaks into two, if we get the choice between yes and no), then he could easily, and probability-wise, would almost definitely, find it impossible to travel into our specific wordline. There would be literally an infinite number of other world lines where evolution had taken a different course, or, say, the Cuban crisis becomes a full war. Some of his predictions, e.g. the tensions between Arab Nations and Israel, were not very subtle at the time, let alone a ground breaking prediction. It'd be a far more approving predicition if he, say, said that America and the UK would declare war on each other in 2007.
*
*
*
*
The Original Forum where John Titor posted with the largest forum on the subject.*
"JohnTitorWeb.com"*
John Titor Archive*
Interviews with Oliver Williams*
John Titor - Time Traveler - collection of all forum posts by John Titor*
TitorClub A Spanish comunity about John & Ethan Titor (site in spanish)
*
Cryptic Universe John Titor Research Compilation
