Misplaced Pages

John Titor: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 22:36, 12 May 2012 edit174.53.163.119 (talk) →Inquiry on the story← Previous edit Latest revision as of 02:54, 23 December 2024 edit undoJalenBarks (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Page movers, Rollbackers103,715 editsm Reverted edit by GoDoGuy (talk) to last version by Old Naval RooftopsTag: Rollback 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|Alleged time-traveler; fictional human described on bulletin boards}}
{{Multiple issues
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
|primary sources = February 2011
{{Use American English|date=July 2023}}
|refimprove = February 2011
]
|original research = January 2012
'''John Titor''' and '''TimeTravel_0''' are pseudonyms used in communications and on internet forums between 1998 and 2001 by an individual claiming to be an American military ]er from the year 2036.<ref name="TTIFirstPost">{{cite web|url=https://timetravelinstitute.com/threads/time-travel-paradoxes.943/|title=John Titor's first thread: Time Travel Paradoxes|work=Time Travel Institute|date=October 23, 2000 |access-date=December 4, 2023}}</ref><ref name="TTISecondThread">{{cite web|url=https://timetravelinstitute.com/threads/topics-limited-to-11-pages.1016/|title=John Titor's second thread: Topics Limited to 11 Pages|work=Time Travel Institute|date=January 26, 2001 |access-date=December 4, 2023}}</ref> His posts discussed various aspects of time travel, and described future calamitous events, including a global ]. The uniform inaccuracy of their predictions and inconsistencies in their explanations has led many to view the story with skepticism. A 2009 investigation suggested that the entire affair was a hoax created by Larry Haber, a Florida entertainment lawyer, and his brother John Rick Haber, a computer scientist.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news|title=Who was John Titor, the time traveler who came from 2036 to warn us of a nuclear war? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11945420/Who-was-John-Titor-the-time-traveller-who-came-from-2040-to-warn-us-of-a-nuclear-war.html |work=] | date=October 21, 2015 |last=Dodds |first=Laurence |access-date=April 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622161305/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11945420/Who-was-John-Titor-the-time-traveller-who-came-from-2036-to-warn-us-of-a-nuclear-war.html |archive-date=June 22, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> These claims have never been verified.
}}


== Titor's posts ==
]
The first posts using John Titor's military symbol appeared on the ''Time Travel Institute'' forums on November 2, 2000, under the username ''TimeTravel_0''<ref name="TTIFirstPost"/> (The name "John Titor" was not used at that time.) The posts discussed time travel in general, the first one being the "six parts" description of the components required for a working time machine and responses to questions from other posters about how such a machine might work. These early posts tended to be short. A second thread was also made due to shortcomings of the forum software used at the time.<ref name="idU4w">{{cite web|url=https://bbs.timetravelinstitute.com/threads/topics-limited-to-11-pages.813/|title=John Titor's second thread|date=August 2000 }}</ref>
'''John Titor''' is the name used on several ]s during 2000 and 2001 by a poster claiming to be a ]er from the year 2036.<ref name="Alwyn Scott">{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Alwyn|title=The nonlinear universe: chaos, emergence, life|year=26 Sep 2007|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-540-34152-9|page=121}}</ref> In these posts he made numerous predictions (a number of them vague, some quite specific<ref>{{cite web|author=Karl Simanonok |url=http://johntitor.strategicbrains.com/CopyrightProof.cfm |title=John Titor Validity Test Based on Prediction of Civil War by 2004-2005 |publisher=Johntitor.strategicbrains.com |date=2003-05-19 |accessdate=2010-09-01}}</ref>) about events in the near future, starting with events in 2004. However, as of 2012, these events appear not to have taken place; he described a drastically changed future in which the ] had broken into five smaller regions, the environment and infrastructure had been devastated by a nuclear attack, and most other world powers had been destroyed.


Titor first appeared on July 29, 1998, and sent two faxes to ], the host of a very popular and nationally broadcast radio talk show '']''. The two faxes told the story of the discovery of time travel in 2034 and the devastation that followed the Y2K disaster.
To date, the story has been retold on numerous web sites, in a book, and in a play. He has also been discussed occasionally on the radio show '']''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2004/08/06.html |title=John Titor, Recap |publisher=Coasttocoastam.com |date= |accessdate=2010-09-01}}</ref> In this respect, the Titor story may be unique in terms of broad appeal from an originally limited medium, an Internet discussion board.


In January 2001, the person calling themself “John Titor” used the pseudonym TimeTravel_0 and began posting at the Art Bell Post-2-Post ] Forums,{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}. The final Titor post was made in late March 2001.
==Titor's posts==
The first post appeared on the ''Time Travel Institute'' forums on November 2, 2000, under the name ''TimeTravel_0''. At the time the posts had nothing to do with future events and the name "John Titor" was not being used. Instead, the posts discussed time travel in general, the first one being the "six parts" description of what a time machine would need to have to work (see below) and responses to questions about how such a machine would work. Early messages tended to be short.


The name "John Titor" was not introduced until January 2001, when TimeTravel_0 began posting at the ] BBS Forums (which required a name or ] for every account). The Titor posts ended in late March 2001. Eventually, a number of the threads became corrupted; but Titor's posts had been saved on subscribers' hard drives and were copied to Anomalies.net, along with new discussions of the science behind Titor's time travelling as well as his predictions.<ref>One of these forum posts exists in its original form, given by the link below; original webcrawler links are also given below</ref> Around 2003, various websites reproduced Titor's posts, re-arranging them into narratives. Not all refer to the original dates posted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.johntitor.com|title=John Titor - Time Traveler|accessdate=2007-03-15}}</ref> Later, around 2003, various websites compiled Titor's posts, re-arranging them into narratives. Not all of these sites refer to the original dates that the messages were posted on the forums.<ref name="WVGiL">{{cite web|url=http://www.johntitor.com|title=John Titor – Time Traveler|access-date=August 4, 2021|date=April 4, 2011}}</ref>


] computer]]
===Outline===
In his online postings, Titor claimed to be an American soldier from the year 2036, based in ] in ], who was assigned to a governmental time-travel project. Purportedly, Titor had been sent back to 1975 to retrieve an ] computer which he said was needed to "]" various legacy computer programs in 2036; a reference to the ] ]. The 5100 runs the ] and ] programming languages. Titor had been selected for this mission specifically, given that his paternal grandfather was directly involved with the assembly and programming of the 5100. In his online postings, Titor claimed to be an American soldier from the year 2036, based in ]. He said that he was assigned to a governmental time-travel project, and that as part of the project he was sent back to 1975 to retrieve an ] computer, which was needed to ] various ] computer programs that existed in 2036 – a possible reference to the ] ].<ref name="Telegraph" /> The IBM 5100 runs the ] and/or ] programming languages, depending on the model.{{Explain|reason=Please explicitly connect these languages to the reason he needed the IBM - I recall that they are important but can't remember why exactly.|date=July 2023}}


Titor said that he had been selected for this mission because his paternal grandfather was directly involved in the original assembly and programming of the 5100. He attempted to provide proof of this by describing unpublicized features of the 5100, which led some people to believe that a computer scientist must have been behind the postings.<ref name="Telegraph" />
Titor claimed to be on a stopover in the year 2000 for "personal reasons"; i.e., to collect pictures lost in the (future) civil war and to visit his family, of whom he spoke often. Titor also said he had been, for a few months, trying to alert anyone that would listen about the threat of ] spread through beef products and about the possibility of civil war within the United States. When questioned about them by an online subscriber, Titor also expressed an interest in mysteries such as ]s (which remained unexplained in his time). Titor suggested that UFOs and ] might be travelers from much further into the future than his own time, with superior time machines.


Titor said that he was on a ] in the year 2000 for "personal reasons":<ref name="Telegraph" /> to collect pictures lost in the (future) ], and to visit his family, of whom he spoke often.
===Time machine===
Titor described the time machine on several occasions. In an early post, he described it as a "stationary mass, temporal displacement unit powered by two top-spin, dual positive singularities", producing a "standard off-set Tipler sinusoid". The earliest post was more explicit, saying it contained the following:


Titor also said that for several months he had been trying to warn anyone who would listen about the potential threat of ] spread through ] products, and about the possibility of an upcoming civil war within the United States.
*Two magnetic housing units for the dual micro singularities
*An electron injection ] to alter mass and gravity micro ]
*A cooling and ] venting system
*Gravity sensors, or a variable gravity lock
*Four main ] clocks
*Three main computer units


When questioned about the topic, Titor also expressed interest in mysteries such as ]s, which he said remained unexplained in his time. Titor suggested that UFOs and ] might be time travelers with superior time machines, from much further into the future than his own time.
According to the posts, the device was installed in the rear of a 1967 ] convertible and later moved to a 1987 truck having four-wheel drive.


=== Time machine ===
Titor further claimed that the "Everett-Wheeler model of quantum physics" was correct. This model, better known as the ], posits that every possible outcome of a quantum decision actually occurs in a separate "universe". Titor stated that this was the reason the ] would not occur; following the logic of the argument, Titor would be killing a different John Titor's grandfather in a timeline other than his own.
Titor described his time machine on several occasions. In one early post, he described it as a "stationary mass, temporal displacement unit powered by two top-spin, dual positive singularities", and producing a "standard off-set ] sinusoid".<ref name="Telegraph" />


The earliest post was more explicit, detailing the components of the machine:
<blockquote>
* Two ] housing units for the dual micro singularities
...The grandfather paradox is impossible. In fact, all paradox is impossible. The Everett-Wheeler-Graham or ] is correct. All possible ]s, events, possibilities, and outcomes are real, eventual, and occurring. The chances of everything happening someplace at sometime in the superverse is 100%.<ref>John Titor, 2/2/01 10:09</ref>
* An electron injection ], to alter mass and ] of the micro ]
</blockquote>
* A cooling and ] venting system
* Gravity ], or a variable gravity lock
* Four main ]s
* Three main computer units
According to the posts, the device was installed in the rear of a 1966 ] convertible.<ref name="tnr">{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/116091/physicists-searched-internet-time-travelers|title=Two Physicists are Looking for Time Travelers on Facebook|last=Steadman|first=Ian|magazine=]|date=January 3, 2014|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref> Later posts mentioned a 1987 truck with ].<ref name="Telegraph" />{{Specify|date=July 2023|reason=Did he mention two separate cars? Or did he describe the same car differently on separate occasions? And what is the timeline for when he posted these statements?}}


===Predictions=== === Predictions ===
Although invoking the ], whereby events from his own timeline may differ from our own, Titor also expressed assurance that the differences were minimal. As such, his descriptions have been interpreted as predictions and compared with historical events since 2001. Although he frequently invoked the ], whereby events from his timeline may differ from our own, Titor also said that the differences would be minimal. As such, some have interpreted his descriptions of his timeline as predictions, and have compared them with actual historical events that have occurred since Titor's final post in 2001.


The most immediate of Titor's predictions was of an ] in the United States having to do with "order and rights".<ref name="John Titor, 2/27/01 17:25">John Titor, 2/27/01 17:25</ref> He described it as beginning in 2004,<ref name="John Titor, 2/1/01 8:36">John Titor, 2/1/01 8:36</ref> with ] surrounding the ]. This civil conflict that he characterizes as "having a ] type event every month that steadily gets worse"<ref name="John Titor, 2/1/01 8:36"/> will be "pretty much at everyone's doorstep"<ref name="John Titor, 2/27/01 17:25"/> and erupts by 2008. The most immediate of Titor's predictions foretold a civil war in the United States having to do with "order and rights". The war as Titor described it would begin in 2005<ref name="John Titor, 2/1/01 8:36">John Titor, 2/1/01 8:36</ref> with ] surrounding the ]. According to Titor, this civil conflict, which he described as "having a ] type event every month that steadily gets worse",<ref name="John Titor, 2/1/01 8:36" /> would be "pretty much at everyone's doorstep" and erupt into war by 2008. As a result, the United States would split into five ] based on a variety of factors, including differing ].


According to Titor, this civil war would end in 2015 with a brief but intense ]{{Specify|date=July 2023|reason=Specify what exactly happens in the scenario that he described - various cities were hit by what?}}, which Titor referred to as "N Day". He specified ] and ] as cities that would be hit in the exchange, and said that after the war, ], ] would be the new U.S. capital. Titor did not detail the exact causes of this World War III scenario, but in one post he said that the hostilities were led by "border clashes and ]".<ref name="FuFUl">John Titor, 2/8/01 9:40</ref> He also pointed to the contemporary ] not as a cause of the war, but as a ] that precedes it.
Titor claimed that as a 13-year old in 2011, he fought with the Fighting Diamondbacks, a shotgun infantry unit of Florida, for at least four years. However, in other posts he describes himself as hiding from the war. As a result of the war, the United States splits into five regions based on various factors and differing military objectives. This civil war, according to Titor, will end in 2015 with a brief but intense ]:


Titor said that in 2011, when he was 13 years old, he joined a ]-based shotgun ] unit called the Fighting Diamondbacks for at least four years. In other posts, he described himself as hiding from the war.
<blockquote>
In 2015, ] launches a nuclear strike against the major cities in the United States (which is the "other side" of the civil war from my perspective), ], and ]. The United States counter attacks. The US cities are destroyed along with the AFE (American Federal Empire)...thus we (in the country) won. The ] and China were also destroyed.<ref>John Titor, 11/7/00 21:23</ref>
</blockquote>


Titor also said that the "Everett–Wheeler model of quantum physics", better known as the ], was correct. According to him, this meant that his time travel had caused the formation of a new ], and that in this new (current) timestream, the events that Titor had described would occur somewhat differently than they had in his home timestream. This made his predictions non-].<ref name="Telegraph" />
Titor refers to the exchange as N Day. ] and ] are specifically mentioned as being hit. After the war, ], ] is the nation's new capital city.


== Criticism and discussion ==
Titor is vague as to the exact motivations and causes for World War III. At one point, he characterized the hostilities as being led by "border clashes and overpopulation",<ref>John Titor, 2/8/01 9:40</ref> but also points to the present conflict between ]s and ]s as not a causation, but rather a milestone that precedes a World War III.
'']'' described Titor as the most famous of several internet forum posters who claimed to be time travelers.<ref name="tnr" />


An Italian television program, ''Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza'', aired the results of an investigation of John Titor on May 19, 2008. Private investigator Mike Lynch found no registry evidence, past or present, of any individual named John Titor. He did, however, identify the John Titor Foundation, which was a for-profit company formed on September 16, 2003, and had no office or address other than a rented post box in ]. An ] connected with Titor also ] to Kissimmee.<ref name="tI1rM">{{cite web|url=http://www.voyager.rai.it/category/0,1067207,239-1078499,00.html|title=Rai.it – Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza |publisher=Voyager |access-date=2010-09-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722050956/http://www.voyager.rai.it/category/0%2C1067207%2C239-1078499%2C00.html|archive-date=2011-07-22}}</ref>
==Examination of the claims==
===Predictive failures===
The posts were met with skepticism when they were being posted, but it was impossible to prove beforehand that the predicted events would not happen. Because Titor claimed the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics was correct, effectively meaning that his travel was from a ] and that things could occur differently than he had predicted, the details he presented were ].


In 2009, a report by John Hughston of the Hoax Hunter website pointed to Larry Haber, a Florida entertainment lawyer, as the CEO of the foundation.<ref name="zQEbz">{{Cite web|url=http://hoaxhunter.blogspot.com/2009/02/john-titor-aka-razimus-report_13.html|title=JOHN TITOR A.K.A. RAZIMUS REPORT|website=hoaxhunter.blogspot.com|date=13 February 2009|access-date=2018-09-15}}</ref><ref name="oPww7">{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fQ2s5seNrs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/4fQ2s5seNrs |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Smoking Gun Proof John Titor Is Morey Haber Hoax Hunter 2016 Documentary by John Razimus|website=youtube.com|date=December 31, 2016 |access-date=2018-09-15}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Lynch concluded that Larry Haber and his brother Richard, a computer scientist, were very likely the men behind John Titor, whom they actually introduced in 1998, accompanied by different predictions, including chaos due to the ].<ref name="Telegraph" /> John Hughston also reported that John Titor is a trademark registered with the ]; the Titor trademark is now classified as "]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://trademarks.justia.com/772/08/john-titor-77208486.html|title=JOHN TITOR - Trademark Serial Number 77208486|access-date={{today}}|work=Justia Trademarks}}</ref>
One of Titor's earliest assertions was that ] would discover the basis for time travel sometime around 2001, with the creation of miniature black holes about half a year after his departure. This did not occur. An article occurring generally around the time he had predicted about miniature ]s being created by CERN (a recurring theme, also ascribed to ] and ] at various times<ref>, mentions one widely-reported article in '']''</ref>) was taken by some to be evidence of this claim; but these events did not occur either. Civil war was not even remotely close to breaking out after the 2004 presidential election, with no further conflict in 2008 in the way Titor described.


In 2018, multimedia artist ], creator of the alternate reality game '']'',<ref name="lpqNC">{{cite web|url=https://gizmodo.com/ongs-hat-the-early-internet-conspiracy-game-that-got-t-1832229488|title=Ong's Hat: The Early Internet Conspiracy Game That Got Too Real|work=]|access-date=August 3, 2021|author=Jed Oelbaum|date=February 21, 2019}}</ref> said that he worked as a consultant for the unnamed individuals responsible for the legend. John Titor "is a story that was created as a literary experiment by people who were observing what I was doing with Ong's Hat and these people wanted to do something like that. I was a consultant on the project, it wasn't my project."<ref name="v850S">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/john-titor-time-traveler-predictions-story|title=The Oral History of John Titor, the Man Who Traveled Back in Time to Save the Internet|last=Jensen|first=K. Thor|date=2018-01-19|website=Thrillist|access-date=2019-02-21}}</ref>
A particularly obvious example involves the Olympics, whereof Titor claimed: "As a result of the many conflicts, no, there were no official Olympics after 2004."<ref name=olym>{{cite web|url= http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/john_titor_archive_page7.html |title=The ATS John Titor Project, Page 7 of 19|date=2001-01-29 |accessdate=2008-05-13}}</ref> The politically uneventful staging of the ],<ref>On the web, there was dispute as to whether or not Titor was referring exclusively to the Summer Olympics. See, for instance, the comments at </ref> the ], and the ] refute this claim.


== In popular culture ==
===Problems with the technology===
* In 2003, the John Titor Foundation published a book, ''John Titor: A Time Traveler's Tale'' ({{ISBN|1-59196-436-9}}), discussing his claims; the book is now out of print.
In the context of the demonstration image provided by John Titor, the ]'s beam being "bent" reveals the obvious inconsistency of objects near the beam not appearing to be bent as well. The framing of the window visible in the background, for instance, should appear distorted in proximity to a large gravity ], but it does not. Some have speculated the "beam" is an ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread62046/pg1|title=John Titor: Hoax| date=2004-06-26| accessdate=2007-03-15}}</ref>
* The 2009 visual novel '']'', which was adapted into an anime in 2011, heavily features time travel and has John Titor as a major part of the plot.<ref name="ah5TC">{{cite web|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/03/25/steinsgate-gets-remaster-with-additional-stories/|title=Steins;Gate gets remaster with additional stories|last=Wilbur|first=Brock|work=]|date=March 25, 2018|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>

* In 2009, a docudrama was created about John Titor called '''''Timetravel_0'''''<ref>{{Citation |last=Norwood |first=Scott |title=Timetravel_0 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441914/ |type=Drama, Sci-Fi |publisher=Skucci Films, Corvus Eye Media, Corwood Productions |access-date=2022-06-27}}</ref> directed by Scott Norwood.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scott Norwood |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3036211/ |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=IMDb}}</ref>
Titor claimed that he was sent back to obtain an ] because it could translate several types of computer code. According to IBM engineer Bob Dubke, Titor's statements regarding the IBM 5100's little-known ability to ] and debug mainframe systems were correct.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.postbulletin.com/magazine/2004/08/index.shtml|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20051210175724/http://www.postbulletin.com/magazine/2004/08/index.shtml|archivedate=2005-12-10|title=Time traveller most likely to be spotted in Rochester, IBM 5100 Engineer Bob Dubke on hidden features| work=Rochester Magazine |accessdate=2007-03-15}}</ref> Supporters state that this information was not publicly available in 2000 or 2001 when Titor made his declaration,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.johntitor.com/Pages/5100.html|year=2005|title=News about the 5100 Computer|accessdate=March 15, 2007}}</ref> and Titor himself stated that this feature was "discovered" as late as 2036 when ], as the underlying source behind all computer operating systems still running local infrastructures and other computational tasks, was only ] due to ] integer limitations.<ref>John Titor, 12/30/00 13:37</ref>
* Titor was referred to in the shonen supernatural horror manga '']''.

* Japanese rock band '']'''s third studio album, TOWN AGE, featured a song, John Q, which references John Titor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sōtaisei Riron『TOWN AGE』 Sōtaisei Riron |script-title=ja:相対性理論『TOWN AGE』 相対性理論 |trans-title=Theory of Relativity『TOWN AGE』Theory of Relativity |url=https://mirairecords.com/stsr/2176 |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=Mirai Records}}</ref>
However, this emulation capability was widely known in the industry and commented on in depth in numerous publications dealing with both the 5100 and programmable microcode in general.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/304/ibmsj3004C.pdf| format= PDF| year=1991|title=The IBM Family of APL Systems, IBM Systems Journal|accessdate=March 15, 2007}}</ref> References to this fact were also available on the Internet as early as 1999 and therefore predated Titor's postings. This is a fairly obscure bit of trivia, however, which suggests that whoever was making the posts either was familiar with the machine specifically or else had at least a general interest in ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://johntitor.strategicbrains.com/|title=John Titor's Story| accessdate=2007-03-15}}</ref>
* In an issue of '']'', John Titor is listed in the '']'s Guide to Super Villains'' card set as an alias of ].<ref name="pb6x1">''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'' (vol. 2) #42</ref>

* In the video game '']'', John Titor is a senior computer engineer from IBM claiming to be a time traveler who speaks in ] code and was also behind the development of IBM 5100.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Titor character announcement |url=https://twitter.com/Reverse1999_GL/status/1701415335314825304 |access-date=2023-10-29 |website=X (formerly Twitter) |language=en}}</ref>
===Problems with the story===

Numerous commentators have pointed out the extensive similarities between the Titor story and ]'s classic post-apocalyptic science fiction novel '']''.<ref>, #14894</ref> Among other similarities, ''Alas, Babylon'' takes place in a small river-side town in Florida just before and after a nuclear war and describes the struggle to survive as a family in the aftermath. In the book, the protagonist lives in the mythical town of "Fort Repose", while Titor claimed to live in the "Fort", formerly the ] (UF).

The internal consistency of Titor's story has been questioned: for instance, in some posts he claims that money is widely used and people still have ]s, despite his statement that centralized banking no longer exists (this is either an inconsistency or implies the rise of ]). In another posting he speculated that today's ] would be usable in his time, but that this would be after the reorganization of the federal government according to his own history, ] making the currency worthless.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.livejournal.com/hoaxes/90359.html|title=Tackling John Titor, Time Traveller|date=2003-11-25|accessdate=2007-03-15}}</ref>

Other problems with the story include inconsistencies in Titor's comments. His first appearance appears to have been, not in 2000, but in the summer of 1998 through two faxes to Art Bell's radio program '']''. When he began posting the online story, ] (January 1, 2000) had come and gone without any real problems. Yet in the 1998 faxes to Art Bell he said, "Y2K is a disaster. Many people freeze to death trying to get to warmer weather. The gov. tries to keep power by instituting marshall law..." <ref><!-- {{cite web|url=http://communities.anomalies.net/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/245484/fpart/1 |title=Communities @ The Anomalies Network |publisher=Communities.anomalies.net |date=2001-09-11 |accessdate=2012-01-12}}{{Dead link|date=May 2012}} -->"John Titor faxes to Art Bell", ''The Anomalies Network'', 29 October 2007, </ref>

In the online story, Titor stated that a part of his mission was to prevent the coming world war by changing history. Yet during an IRC chat in October 2000, a month before he began posting, Titor was asked if the future could be changed from his prediction, and answered "It's too late. I just wish things didn't have to happen the way they will." <ref>http://www.anomalies.net/object/titorirc.html</ref>

===Inquiry on the story===
An Italian TV program (''Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza'') aired an investigation of the John Titor story on May 19, 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.voyager.rai.it/category/0,1067207,239-1078499,00.html |title=Rai.it - Voyager - Ai confini della conoscenza |publisher=Voyager |date= |accessdate=2010-09-01}}</ref> Mike Lynch, the private detective hired to investigate, found that there were no registry traces, even far in the past, of any John Titor or Titor family. In addition, he discovered that there was a company that was called the John Titor Foundation. The John Titor Foundation is a for-profit Florida LLC that was formed September 16, 2003. It had no office, and it only had a rented post box with the address PMB 237, 7862 W IRLO BRONSON HWY, KISSIMMEE FL 34747; no tapes, recordings, or evidence of Titor were found; and only Larry Haber, the CEO of the John Titor Foundation and an entertainment lawyer in Celebration Florida, confirmed his existence. Lynch's conclusion is that John Titor may be John Rick Haber, a computer expert who is Larry Haber's brother.

==In other media==
* In 2003, the John Titor Foundation published a book, ''John Titor: A Time Traveler's Tale'' (ISBN 1-59196-436-9), discussing his claims; the book is now out of print.
* In 2004, , a play based on the John Titor story, was staged in the United States.
* In 2006, John Titor's "C204 Time Travel Theory" was patented <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20060073976.pdf |title=Method of gravity distortion and time displacement |publisher=Freepatentsonline.com |date= |accessdate=2012-01-12}}</ref> with the same diagram outlined in John's original story.
* The 2009 Japanese ], ], ], and ] series, '']'' makes heavy use of the legend of John Titor, the ], the fictional organization SERN (based off of the real organization ]), and a character using Titor's name as a ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://takumipgsky.exteen.com/20110413/spoil-steins-gate-ep02 |title=<nowiki></nowiki>Steins;Gate ep02 | PG Channel |author= "takumipgsky" |publisher= Exteen.com |date= 2011-04-13 |accessdate=2011-08-30}} {{Th icon}}</ref>


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|2}} {{reflist}}


==External links== == External links ==
{{Commons category|John Titor}} {{Commons category|John Titor}}
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

{{Time travel}}
{{Urban legends}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Titor, John}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Titor, John}}
] ]
]
]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]

]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 02:54, 23 December 2024

Alleged time-traveler; fictional human described on bulletin boards

Titor's purported military insignia

John Titor and TimeTravel_0 are pseudonyms used in communications and on internet forums between 1998 and 2001 by an individual claiming to be an American military time traveler from the year 2036. His posts discussed various aspects of time travel, and described future calamitous events, including a global nuclear war. The uniform inaccuracy of their predictions and inconsistencies in their explanations has led many to view the story with skepticism. A 2009 investigation suggested that the entire affair was a hoax created by Larry Haber, a Florida entertainment lawyer, and his brother John Rick Haber, a computer scientist. These claims have never been verified.

Titor's posts

The first posts using John Titor's military symbol appeared on the Time Travel Institute forums on November 2, 2000, under the username TimeTravel_0 (The name "John Titor" was not used at that time.) The posts discussed time travel in general, the first one being the "six parts" description of the components required for a working time machine and responses to questions from other posters about how such a machine might work. These early posts tended to be short. A second thread was also made due to shortcomings of the forum software used at the time.

Titor first appeared on July 29, 1998, and sent two faxes to Art Bell, the host of a very popular and nationally broadcast radio talk show Coast to Coast AM. The two faxes told the story of the discovery of time travel in 2034 and the devastation that followed the Y2K disaster.

In January 2001, the person calling themself “John Titor” used the pseudonym TimeTravel_0 and began posting at the Art Bell Post-2-Post BBS Forums,. The final Titor post was made in late March 2001.

Later, around 2003, various websites compiled Titor's posts, re-arranging them into narratives. Not all of these sites refer to the original dates that the messages were posted on the forums.

IBM 5100 computer

In his online postings, Titor claimed to be an American soldier from the year 2036, based in Tampa, Florida. He said that he was assigned to a governmental time-travel project, and that as part of the project he was sent back to 1975 to retrieve an IBM 5100 computer, which was needed to debug various legacy computer programs that existed in 2036 – a possible reference to the UNIX year 2038 problem. The IBM 5100 runs the APL and/or BASIC programming languages, depending on the model.

Titor said that he had been selected for this mission because his paternal grandfather was directly involved in the original assembly and programming of the 5100. He attempted to provide proof of this by describing unpublicized features of the 5100, which led some people to believe that a computer scientist must have been behind the postings.

Titor said that he was on a stopover in the year 2000 for "personal reasons": to collect pictures lost in the (future) civil war, and to visit his family, of whom he spoke often.

Titor also said that for several months he had been trying to warn anyone who would listen about the potential threat of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease spread through beef products, and about the possibility of an upcoming civil war within the United States.

When questioned about the topic, Titor also expressed interest in mysteries such as UFOs, which he said remained unexplained in his time. Titor suggested that UFOs and extraterrestrials might be time travelers with superior time machines, from much further into the future than his own time.

Time machine

Titor described his time machine on several occasions. In one early post, he described it as a "stationary mass, temporal displacement unit powered by two top-spin, dual positive singularities", and producing a "standard off-set Tipler sinusoid".

The earliest post was more explicit, detailing the components of the machine:

According to the posts, the device was installed in the rear of a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette convertible. Later posts mentioned a 1987 truck with four-wheel drive.

Predictions

Although he frequently invoked the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, whereby events from his timeline may differ from our own, Titor also said that the differences would be minimal. As such, some have interpreted his descriptions of his timeline as predictions, and have compared them with actual historical events that have occurred since Titor's final post in 2001.

The most immediate of Titor's predictions foretold a civil war in the United States having to do with "order and rights". The war as Titor described it would begin in 2005 with civil unrest surrounding the presidential election of the previous year. According to Titor, this civil conflict, which he described as "having a Waco type event every month that steadily gets worse", would be "pretty much at everyone's doorstep" and erupt into war by 2008. As a result, the United States would split into five regions based on a variety of factors, including differing military objectives.

According to Titor, this civil war would end in 2015 with a brief but intense World War III, which Titor referred to as "N Day". He specified Washington, D.C. and Jacksonville, Florida as cities that would be hit in the exchange, and said that after the war, Omaha, Nebraska would be the new U.S. capital. Titor did not detail the exact causes of this World War III scenario, but in one post he said that the hostilities were led by "border clashes and overpopulation". He also pointed to the contemporary Arab-Israeli conflict not as a cause of the war, but as a milestone that precedes it.

Titor said that in 2011, when he was 13 years old, he joined a Florida-based shotgun infantry unit called the Fighting Diamondbacks for at least four years. In other posts, he described himself as hiding from the war.

Titor also said that the "Everett–Wheeler model of quantum physics", better known as the many-worlds interpretation, was correct. According to him, this meant that his time travel had caused the formation of a new timestream, and that in this new (current) timestream, the events that Titor had described would occur somewhat differently than they had in his home timestream. This made his predictions non-falsifiable.

Criticism and discussion

The New Republic described Titor as the most famous of several internet forum posters who claimed to be time travelers.

An Italian television program, Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza, aired the results of an investigation of John Titor on May 19, 2008. Private investigator Mike Lynch found no registry evidence, past or present, of any individual named John Titor. He did, however, identify the John Titor Foundation, which was a for-profit company formed on September 16, 2003, and had no office or address other than a rented post box in Kissimmee, Florida. An IP address connected with Titor also geolocated to Kissimmee.

In 2009, a report by John Hughston of the Hoax Hunter website pointed to Larry Haber, a Florida entertainment lawyer, as the CEO of the foundation. Lynch concluded that Larry Haber and his brother Richard, a computer scientist, were very likely the men behind John Titor, whom they actually introduced in 1998, accompanied by different predictions, including chaos due to the Y2K "bug". John Hughston also reported that John Titor is a trademark registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office; the Titor trademark is now classified as "Abandoned".

In 2018, multimedia artist Joseph Matheny, creator of the alternate reality game Ong's Hat, said that he worked as a consultant for the unnamed individuals responsible for the legend. John Titor "is a story that was created as a literary experiment by people who were observing what I was doing with Ong's Hat and these people wanted to do something like that. I was a consultant on the project, it wasn't my project."

In popular culture

  • In 2003, the John Titor Foundation published a book, John Titor: A Time Traveler's Tale (ISBN 1-59196-436-9), discussing his claims; the book is now out of print.
  • The 2009 visual novel Steins;Gate, which was adapted into an anime in 2011, heavily features time travel and has John Titor as a major part of the plot.
  • In 2009, a docudrama was created about John Titor called Timetravel_0 directed by Scott Norwood.
  • Titor was referred to in the shonen supernatural horror manga Magical Girl Apocalypse.
  • Japanese rock band Sōtaisei Riron's third studio album, TOWN AGE, featured a song, John Q, which references John Titor.
  • In an issue of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, John Titor is listed in the Deadpool's Guide to Super Villains card set as an alias of Kang the Conqueror.
  • In the video game Reverse: 1999, John Titor is a senior computer engineer from IBM claiming to be a time traveler who speaks in Hexadecimal code and was also behind the development of IBM 5100.

References

  1. ^ "John Titor's first thread: Time Travel Paradoxes". Time Travel Institute. October 23, 2000. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  2. "John Titor's second thread: Topics Limited to 11 Pages". Time Travel Institute. January 26, 2001. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  3. ^ Dodds, Laurence (October 21, 2015). "Who was John Titor, the time traveler who came from 2036 to warn us of a nuclear war?". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  4. "John Titor's second thread". August 2000.
  5. "John Titor – Time Traveler". April 4, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  6. ^ Steadman, Ian (January 3, 2014). "Two Physicists are Looking for Time Travelers on Facebook". The New Republic. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  7. ^ John Titor, 2/1/01 8:36
  8. John Titor, 2/8/01 9:40
  9. "Rai.it – Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza". Voyager. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
  10. "JOHN TITOR A.K.A. RAZIMUS REPORT". hoaxhunter.blogspot.com. February 13, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  11. "Smoking Gun Proof John Titor Is Morey Haber Hoax Hunter 2016 Documentary by John Razimus". youtube.com. December 31, 2016. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  12. "JOHN TITOR - Trademark Serial Number 77208486". Justia Trademarks. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  13. Jed Oelbaum (February 21, 2019). "Ong's Hat: The Early Internet Conspiracy Game That Got Too Real". Gizmodo. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  14. Jensen, K. Thor (January 19, 2018). "The Oral History of John Titor, the Man Who Traveled Back in Time to Save the Internet". Thrillist. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  15. Wilbur, Brock (March 25, 2018). "Steins;Gate gets remaster with additional stories". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  16. Norwood, Scott, Timetravel_0 (Drama, Sci-Fi), Skucci Films, Corvus Eye Media, Corwood Productions, retrieved June 27, 2022
  17. "Scott Norwood". IMDb. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  18. "Sōtaisei Riron『TOWN AGE』 Sōtaisei Riron" 相対性理論『TOWN AGE』 相対性理論 [Theory of Relativity『TOWN AGE』Theory of Relativity]. Mirai Records. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
  19. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #42
  20. "John Titor character announcement". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved October 29, 2023.

External links

Time travel
General terms and concepts
Time travel in fiction
Temporal paradoxes
Parallel timelines
Philosophy of space and time
Spacetimes in general relativity that
can contain closed timelike curves
Urban legends
By region
North America
Canada
United
States
Continental and
mainland Asia
India
Japan
Philippines
Continental
Europe
France
Germany
Poland
Soviet Union/Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
England
Africa
Oceania
Australia
New Zealand
South America
Topic articles
Theorists
and analysis
TV series
In fiction
Related
Categories:
John Titor: Difference between revisions Add topic