JOHN TITOR: HISTORY, PREDICTIONS AND CONCLUSION - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

John Titor was the name used during the years 2000 and 2001 by a user of the BBSs panels, a kind of electronic bulletin boards that allowed interested parties to share information and software through a computer network. At first he identified himself as TimeTravel_0 and participated in a board called Time Travel Institute.

This board talked about the possibility of traveling in time. Shortly after, he changed his username to John Titor and claimed to be a traveler from the future who had been sent to fulfill a special mission: he had to return to 1975 to get a computer with which to edit several obsolete programs in his own time, the year 2036.

In addition to telling this story, he told some of the events that, according to him, were going to happen in the near future: they are the so-called predictions of Titor.

In March 2001, messages from this supposed time traveler stopped being received, although in certain areas his statements are still reproduced.

History

The beginning of John Titor's story is found in a few posts left on a Time Travel Institute forum by a user named TimeTravel_0.

The first of these was written on November 2, 2000 and, at that time, he made no allusion to his status as a man of the future.

Being a panel in which the possibility of traveling in time was discussed, his description of a hypothetical machine to move from one era to another attracted a lot of attention.

He even went so far as to leave a description of what the device was like, noting that it had to have six parts for it to work properly.

The time Machine

Especially in those first messages, he described the operation and components of the machine. His definition of this was "a stationary mass unit of time displacement, moved by two rotating positive singularities." Titor stated that it had to contain six different components, which were as follows:

- Two magnetic containers.

- An electron injection distributor for the purpose of altering mass and gravity.

- A cooling system and an X-ray ventilation system.

- Some sensors for gravity.

- Four cesium clocks.

- Three computers.

Finally, Titor claimed that the machine was installed in a '67 Chevrolet Corvette, in the rear, he even sent photographs of the contraption.

The time traveler

These writings, coupled with a prediction about the discovery by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) of small black holes, sparked the curiosity of the other forum participants. Before them he confessed that he was a temporary traveler and that he came from the year 2036.

Shortly after this revelation, he opened an account on a different forum, specifically Art Bell's, belonging to the Coast to Coast program in the United States. On this occasion, his registration as a user was under the name of John Titor.

It is the curious circumstance that, in 1998, someone had sent faxes to the same program saying that temporary trips would be invented in 2034.

Your mission

Now with the identity of John Titor, he revealed what was the important mission that had been entrusted to him. It should be noted that, according to those who shared messages with him, his way of expressing himself was that of a soldier: concise and with short sentences.

The order he said he received was to go back to 1975 and get a computer. It had to be a specific model, the IBM 5100, since they needed it in the future to edit some programs.

From there he was revealing more details about his role; In addition, he gained many followers that expanded the story even more.

Titor said that another reason they needed the IBM 5100 was because of the so-called 2038 Effect, which would cause the clocks of 32-bit computers to wrongly mark the date February 13, 1901 when reaching the year 2038.

Similarly, he claimed that this particular computer could emulate larger and more expensive mainframe systems. In fact, an engineer from the company confirmed that data shortly after.

A stop along the way

Titor also intended to make a personal visit during his time travel. Thus, he affirmed that he was going to stop in 2000 to recover some lost family photographs and to visit his loved ones.

End of communications

Without giving explanations, John Titor stopped writing messages on March 24, 2001. In the last one he left was an enigmatic phrase to which his followers try to make sense: “Bring a can of gasoline with you when your car dies to a side of the road ”.

Predictions

During the months in which he communicated with his followers, John Titor reported on some events that would have occurred between 2001 and his supposed birth time, 2036. These predictions range from warnings of war to scientific findings.

Civil war in the United States

John Titor stated that in 2004 a civil war would begin in the United States. According to his story, it would be something related to civil rights and order.

The origin would be in the presidential election of that same year and the country would be divided into 5 zones. Titor himself would have fought in the conflict in 2011.

Third World war

It would explode in 2015 after Russia launched a nuclear attack on some of the most important cities in the United States, Europe and China. These last two areas would be destroyed, although the United States would recover and end up winning the war.

Plague in 2030

This health catastrophe, which he called the new AIDS, would wipe out the majority of the planet's population. He also made reference to another disease that could be reminiscent of mad cow disease.

Other predictions

Apart from these three predictions, Titor also left others more or less correct. In this way, he declared that time travel would be discovered in 2001 by CERN, when investigating black holes.

He also pointed out that, when the world war began, the US president would be of color, which is why some say that he was referring to the election of Obama.

conclusion

Following the disappearance of John Titor in 2001, many began to investigate his identity. There are at least two theories about who could be behind the character.

Science fiction writer

In the same year 2001, Johann Meier, a German science fiction writer, claimed that John Titor was an imposter. Meier claimed to have written a novel a few years earlier in which he recounted practically the same events as Titor in his messages.

The original work was lost by the author in a summer home in California. Meier claimed that a certain John Adams, who was the one who found the book, was the one posing as Titor.

Lawyer

The other theory about the identity of the time traveler seems more solid. In 2003 the JohnTitor domain was registered and their old conversations began to be published on the new page, in addition to selling souvenirs and other related products. Similarly, the name of the lawyer who claimed to represent the Titors was made public.

Years later, in 2008, an Italian television program hired a detective to find out who was behind the story. He discovered that everything collected by the website was entered into the account of a company, whose director was the alleged lawyer for the non-existent Titor family: Larry Haber.

He would have been helped by his brother John, an information technology technician who would have provided scientific information to make the matter more credible.

References

1. Stonemason, Roberto. John Titor, the man who did not come from the future. Obtained from urbantecno.com
2. Raya, Adrian. The story of John Titor, the Internet-born time traveler. Obtained from omicrono.elespanol.com
3. The Thinker. Messages and predictions from John Titor, the internet time traveler. Obtained from elpensante.com
4. Dodds, Laurence. Who was John Titor, the 'time traveler' who came from 2036 to warn us of a nuclear war ?. Retrieved from telegraph.co.uk
5. Conley, Nicholas. The untold truth of 'time traveler' John Titor. Retrieved from grunge.com
6. Goal, Amis. Time Traveler John Titor's Most Popular Predictions From 2036. Retrieved from sciencetimes.com
7. Serena, Katie. Meet “Time Traveler” John Titor, Who Said He Came From The Future To Save The World. Retrieved from allthatsinteresting.com