John Titor

I think I have some audio recordings of radio shows that discussed Titor way back when. I might have to go searching for them in my archives soon. I might post them to a BitTorrent tracker if they are of decent quality.

--
The Doctor [412/724/301/703]
Antarctica Starts Here.

If those microscopic, contrarotating black holes ever get loose, I'll be willing to bet even money that they either (a) cause a rapid depreciation in housing prices in the area of immediate effect prior to fizzling out in a burst of quantum foam, or (b) collapse the whole planet into a cricket-ball-sized mass of superdense matter that will continue to eat up nearby material until it works its way up into a nasty little brown dwarf that will wait smugly for space aliens to discover in a billion years after they work out the point of origin of the Voyager missions.

I like this Titor story, however. There's a nicely prosaic, down-on-the-farm quality to his postings that does a lot to deflect the instrumental questionings of critics.

It does all reek a little too much of a post-'12 Monkeys' LAN-party sci-fi discussion gone wrong, however. (Or right; they're making a movie, aren't they?)

Very nice detail work, though. The portable nature of the IBM computer; the ecological emphases; the frank rejection of 'time-profit' questions; the appeal to the very liberating multiverse scenarios, and so on.

The best part of the myth (and I use the word intentionally, and respectfully) is the rejection by Titor of the idea that - in general - one person could do a great deal to change the future, in spite of the obsessions of SF writers with the theme. This is interesting, because it suggests - to regular, everyday people - that they might want to see how they feel if they regard themselves for a moment as time-travellers from the future with the potential ability to turn human history on a dime. The reality is that, without the resources of a government program directed by powerful individuals that are convinced of your story, or without the ability to cause a noticable effect in history (say, via assasination or scientific invention) that a time-traveller is in much the same boat as everyone else.

Nice story, though.

I always found it interesting that Titor always refused to respond to the trolls and flamers that gravitated toward the Coast to Coast AM forums when he was posting there. He was not afraid to say that he did not know something, and he sometimes told people where to start their research if they wanted to follow up on something.

--
The Doctor [412/724/301/703]
Antarctica Starts Here.

John Titor. There's a name I've not heard in a long time...

Very well crafted story, despite a few inconsistencies. The photos, the way seemingly disaprate pieces fit together, the whole "the government needs this old computer" premise is just screwed up enough to be believable. Interesting indeed.

Should make a movie based on it. No one can claim copyright on the story without randing it as a hoax, it's perfect. :)