A Visit from the Year 2036!

I caught an interesting documentary on [Italian] television the other night -- the program -- entitled "Voyager" - is kind of an Italian version of "Unsolved Mysteries" if you will. Anyway, the big episode on this particular night concerned itself with a man who goes/went by the name of John Titor - a supposed time-traveler from the year 2036 who traveled back in time to the year 1975 to pick up an IMB 5100 computer from his grandfather, then wound up making a side trip to the year 2000 and spent about a year on-line (the exact dates are 2 November 2000 to 21 March 2001). During that time, John Titor -- who initially referred to himself as timetravel_0 -- chatted with a variety of individuals on several different chat forums about topics as diverse as the implosion of society as we know it, to the machinations of his time-travel device. Which by the way, wasn't really a "time-machine" in the H.G.Wells sence, but more of a high-powered accessory you hook up to your car. Think of "Back to the Future" but with a Fiat.

And if you're wondering what an IBM 5100 computer has to do with time travel then you're not alone. I'm still trying to figure it out. It kind of reads like a chapter out of the "Terminator" when the guy comes back in time to find his mom. But don't get caught up in the little details just yet.

If John Titor's visit and predictions were reported in the mainstream press at that time I don't remember it (not that that means anything -- cuz I can hardly remember what I did yesterday, let alone seven years ago) but I'm sure to the people who chatted with John Titor; his rants and raves made for some stimulating conversation. According to the program I saw the other night, John Titor mapped out some startling revelations: namely that A US civil war would erupt around 2004/2005, that a variant of mad-cow disease would kill milions, and that the United States will transition from having 1 president to having 5 -- which is just what this country needs: 5 times the opportunity to really mess this country up. Now I'm not sure why John Titor guy is the subject of a documentary seven years after the fact, but it is kind of interesting in a "do-Bigfoot and UFO's-really-exist" kind of way. Come to think of it, I do know why the producers of "Voyager" probably picked this particular time to devote a documentary about this guy -- according to John Titor's posts -- the proverbial sh*t is supposed to hit the fan right around this time.

The documentary I saw pointed out that Titor shared the secrets about his time machine on line. And in fact on his website you can see a whole bunch of schematics and diagrams of something that purportedly took 'ol John from "there to here and back again". I'm not a scientist so how the heck do I know if this thing actually worked. I'm not going to criticize something I don't know anything about. What I will say is that Titor's claims about the downfall of America beginning in 2004 don't seem to have come true. Certainly things have changed since 9/11 but not to the drastic extent that Titor predicted. That means the family and I can still plan on making a return trip across the pond next summer. That is, if there's something to return to.

According to Titor, the United States will face some sort of internal crisis resulting in a civil war, one of militias and rural gun owners against totalitarian city states ruled by the federal government. Beginning in 2004 and early 2005, this civil 'flares up and down' for ten years until, in 2015, Russia attacks the government of the United States (AKA the urban city states), China and the European Union. The war is short and very nuclear. Titor claims that the US government (which he dubs the 'AFE (American Federal Empire)') is destroyed, along with the European Union and China. He says that in 2036, Russia is the new United States' primary trading partner. (Check out www.community.livejournal.com for more information on the end of the world as we know it).

Alas, all good things come to an end. Johntitor.com points out that "...on March 21, 2001, John Titor told us he would be leaving our and returning to 2036. After that, he was never heard from again..."

O-k, John Titor was never heard from again, but someone thought it apropos to create a website for the guy. He also has a lawyer. Now what would someone from the year 2036 need with a lawyer in the year 2007? What do I care if I live in the year 2036 and someone is going to talk smak about me in 2001or whenever. In fact, what I really want to know is why can't we just call this guy up? I mean -- if he's still alive in 2036, that means he is probably still alive today. Somewhere on one of his posts, John Titor claims to have lived or lives in Tampa Florida. Better yet, on coastotcoastam.com a lady named Kay Titor claims to be the guy's mother. If I can time travel, why can't I just travel back in time and visit myself?

I'm not entirely convinced that this whole John Titor thing isn't a hoax. I wish he'd come back and tell me something really important -- like how much movie tickets will coast in 20 or 30 years, or if DVDs will be replaced by then. I'd also like to know if Disney World will still be around, because I'd like to take my grandkids. That is -- assuming I'll have grandkids.

I recommend the site www.abovetopscret.com which does a superb job of mapping out all of John Titor's original posts and providing plain language explanations for most of the more technical rants there-in. Also I recommend the not-nearly-as-interesting site www.johntitor.com and judge for yourself!