Gears Unseen
An Interview with Temporal Recon,
author of Conviction of a Time Traveler
by PaulaJedi
Please Note: I no longer support Temporal Recon. My interviews will remain online as samples of my work and to leave up as historical documents.
Time Traveler John Titor’s infamous 2015 has arrived and many people are waiting in anticipation to find out if the United States will indeed find itself under nuclear attack by the Russians, or instead, find that the concept of divergence has saved us all from this impending doom. While we wait to find out our fate, perhaps we should revisit a previous interview by Temporal Recon, author of the John Titor related book Conviction of a Time Traveler. Then, we can read about what else he has to say about time travel. In the brand new interview below, Temporal Recon is offering us a new glimpse of his mind by speculating on many more topics including John Titor, time travel in general, and even aliens. If you’re ready to begin the journey, buckle up your seatbelts, sit back, and enjoy the ride.
Has your opinion of the authenticity of John Titor changed since you’ve written the book Conviction of a Time Traveler?
In a word, no. My understanding of the larger question regarding ‘time travel’ has only deepened and expanded. Not to diminish Titor’s impact or importance, I have discovered that Titor was “merely” one example of the larger phenomenon (No offense, John!).
Where have you discovered these other examples? In the media? The movies? Can you provide any examples?
I am averse at highlighting particular examples, and for a variety of reasons. Some make themselves known as time travelers while others do not. They have a job to do and far be it from me to point the spot light of legitimacy upon them when they may not want it. I simply don’t want to interfere in the work they are doing.
That being said, I will say that I am surprised at the sheer volume of their presence. We are being visited, literally, all the time.
Do you believe the United States is preparing for martial law, if and when it is necessary? What evidence can you find to support this?
I make a conscious effort to actively avoid the nightly bad news on television, though I get some news online as a means to maintain a modicum of situational awareness. Any specific actions that the United States Government is or is not taking is unknown to me.
This does not make me cold or unfeeling to what I DO see is happening. I simply try to keep in mind, however, that everything we’re seeing, everything we’re experiencing and everything that angers us has already happened (from a future-history perspective). My peace of mind is more important to me than the tempting addiction to anger and outrage that is fed to us daily. Admittedly, this outlook is a tightrope. Even I am surprised sometimes at what is happening and what is being attempted.
Do you believe that John Titor left messages in other places besides the internet? Why or why not? Where?
Thinking a bit larger, I would say this question and the one that immediately follows is a bit out of order. Rather, I would ask, “do you believe that TT’ers in general leave messages elsewhere?” and “do you think John Titor did this?” The short answer is yes, to both questions. As one example, are you discounting the likelihood that the faxes in 1998 to Art Bell were from Titor?
I was reviewing Conviction of a Time Traveler the other day and I noticed that I made an error:
In COATT, I stated that the faxes were from an individual who claimed to be John Titor. This was an error and I apologize for this oversight. (Incredibly, nobody pointed this out in over 5 years). The faxes were never signed (or Bell never gave the name if they were). But the content of the faxes inexorably points to Titor. Doesn’t this show that they do in fact interact via means other than the internet and before the internet age?
Do you believe other time travelers have done the same?
Nice to see that your question implies and acknowledges the existence of other time travelers out there. There is a larger stage present with many actors.
Many people still say that none of John Titor’s predictions have come true. Which predictions do you believe actually have come true and how do you feel about using only predictions as proof of time travel, anyway?
A great question for its implications.
First of all, “many people” are simply wrong on many of their assertions. I learned long ago that usually the single best source of information is my own research. “Many People” are too often biased by their own assumptions, preconceptions and agendas to be a reliable source of insight or information. This applies to both the Debunkers as well as the True Believers. As a result I ignore “Many People.”
While you can look at the arrivals/departures board at an airport to discern a plane’s itinerary, it is not the sole source of truth and sometimes it can be erroneous. Just as an airliner leaves skid marks on the runway indicating landings taking place there, so do the actions of TT’ers leave similar traces.
That being said, the question of whether ‘time travel’ is real or not is largely answered in my mind so I don’t normally go out in search of the latest arrival to our humble little corner of the multi-verse. There are larger questions to ask than to try to keep track of all the comings and goings.
Explain the concept of “gears” and how it relates to time travel. Have any new “gears” made themselves known to you since you’ve written your book?
There is a gif on my blog that shows a series of interlocking gears and all turning in concert. In looking at those interlocking gears it is impossible to discern from whence the motive force comes. Which gear is the source of power that turns all the others? This is the underlying question as it pertains to the ‘time travel’ question. What strings are being pulled? In what direction? Who is doing the pulling? It is quite elementary to observe the moving gear, but figuring out why it’s moving is a wholly different question.
Another item that must be included in our calculus of the question is the accounting of the gears that exist but go unseen; that are hidden from view but are turning nonetheless. In looking at the gif on the blog, one assumes he is seeing all the gears; that the full problem set is quantifiable. If the time travel question has proven one thing to me, it is that the full picture is not known (either by me or the vast majority of those who profess interest in the topic). There are gears (such as actors, events, motives) that are not readily observable, yet they exist nonetheless.
Regarding the article you shared about the Berenstain bears as well as my own experience with apparent changes in the timeline, do you now believe that humans can or will be able to pick and choose which timeline to visit, despite the seemingly strict rules of the Multiple Worldline Theory? After all, wouldn’t it just be a mathematical issue?
I am no mathematician, but I might ask, were that the case, then we would need to be able to calculate infinity +1. Is that possible?
Why do you believe infinity +1 is the key to time travel?
Sorry, I believe I didn’t make myself clear here.
I did not mean that “infinity” is the key to time travel. Rather, I meant that in order to travel to one world line out of an infinite quantity of world lines as you propose, the traveler would first have to quantify infinity. Infinity, for all intents and purposes, is an imaginary number. Any “number” per se is a quantity. Infinity is not a quantity, it is a concept. As a matter of fact, “infinity” could very well be described as the very inability to quantify at all. So, returning to your original hypothesis of finding a way to travel to a particular “ZD” WL in an infinite sea of WL’s, you would first have to quantify the set {infinity} and then pick one out of that set. As before, I reserve the right to be wrong here. Many do not ascribe the appropriate respect to the mathematical meaning of “infinite” and thus miss its true incomprehensibleness.
But do we know for certain that the universe and time are infinite? For one universe to be infinite, are we assuming it is infinite in both directions, like a line, are we not? What are your thoughts?
You are mixing apples and apple trees here, Paula.
I did not say that a universe (world line) is infinitely “long.” I said that it is reported (by TimeTravel_0) that the quantity of WL’s is infinite and is, by definition, unquantifiable.
I believe Titor did state that individual universes do indeed have specific beginnings and endings.
I would also caution against characterizing a universe as a “line.” This characterization is an artifact of how we perceive moments in time (past then present then future). A universe (with all its constituent dimensions) likely is much more akin to a bubble where all moments exist simultaneously.
But I do understand (and welcome) the ease that characterizing a worldline as a line offers, especially to the layman. Just understand that calling it a line is merely a convention, not necessarily the actual truth.
My thought is that once we visit a particular universe, we will have the “map” or coordinates to revisit or even trace our steps backwards. In your opinion, would this make returning to your home universe any more plausible?
Navigation is a very interesting topic and I welcome the discussion, though if I were to speculate and to answer your question, I would say likely no.
Firstly, can we be certain we can identify all possible dimensions (or at the very least even be aware of their existence) and their values that would be required to reliably describe any given universe in all its conditions? (A WL’s ‘coordinates’ as it were)
Putting the problem in terms of geographic coordinates, consider how we find ourselves on the globe right now: we use geographic coordinates where one series of numbers identifies a line of latitude and a second number identifies a line of longitude. Where those two lines cross is a discreet and identifiable location on the globe; two dimensions.
When we talk about coordinates of a particular WL, all things being equal, we are faced with one primary and fundamental problem: quantifying infinity (the globe, as it were). Any means of identifying a particular world line such as how you hypothesize would necessarily be a relative position relative to all other world lines (and it would have to be all of them) just as all lines of latitude or longitude are relative to a specific datum (the Prime Meridian for example). And if that quantity is constantly and infinitely changing (an infinite number of universes being created, existing and ending) then identifying one particular WL would be impossible because the datum would constantly and infinitely be changing (or at the very least, never fixed).
What is important to take away here is that this system only works when the total number of lines of longitude and latitude are fixed and permanent. How would it be possible (for example) to go to the 56th degree of north latitude when the quantity of parallels (both north and south of it) is constantly in flux?
But this line of questions does highlight an interesting aspect of TT_0’s narrative. He claimed his system could indeed describe a WL, but only as it is
- relative to his origin WL, not relative to the totality of all universes within the multiverse and
- Taking it further, the technology doesn’t describe the WL’s location, but rather it’s ‘amount’ of difference from his original as measured by gravity. This is key.
If the idea of divergence is a real one, then we can infer that measuring that divergence, and keeping it to a minimum, is of paramount importance in navigation and not necessarily the WL’s relative “location” within the infinitely mutable multiverse.
This hangs quite nicely with TT_0’s claims that returning to one’s own “home” universe is just as impossible. He said himself that returning to his WL or “origin” was impossible (or at least so infinitely unlikely that renders the possibility impossible). Remember: infinite means infinite.
So, in terms of navigation within the multiverse, minimizing divergence is likely a much larger factor than many might believe. As a matter of fact, I am sure that divergence is the single largest factor when it comes to navigation through time (if divergence is a real thing in the first place).
Zero Divergence is mathematically possible. Is math sufficient evidence for proving that one day we can travel to whichever timeline we wish, and is it possible that John Titor was not being 100% truthful about this issue?
Traveling to whichever world line we wish seems to be an impossibility based on my answer above (though I reserve the right to be wrong on the matter). Also, your question presumes that the number of universes ‘in existence’ is static and “stuck at infinity.” This is likely not the case since new universes are created in every “moment” (if ‘moment’ is even definable). Once one gets their head around that, then some semblance of awe takes hold when considering the true scope of what “infinite multi-verse” really means.
Getting to the second part of your question, I imagine John was as truthful as our own understanding allowed within the constraints of what he could and could not talk about.
Do you believe consciousness plays a role in time travel?
A simple question worthy of an encyclopedia’s worth of answer. Yes, consciousness likely intersects with Time Travel. I find consciousness to be the underpinning of reality itself. Because of this, your question is phrased a little backwards. Instead, perhaps it should be asked thusly:
Do I believe time travel implicates consciousness?
Again, the answer is yes (the transitive property holds here, haha). It is my firm, experiential, understanding that the multi-verse is composed of consciousness running throughout it. I might even be drawing a difference without a distinction. Personally, I tend to think of consciousness as an information field. That field encompasses (and composes) all universes that exist (and have the possibility and probability to exist as probability waves or possibility waves). Again, I reserve the right to be wrong.
So, if a time traveler is able to move from one universe to another, he likely comes into contact with the pure, unadulterated information field while “in transition” to a different WL. This is pure speculation on my part and I should be careful to not conflate speculation with my own research on the matter, but the theory seems to hang together nicely.
The results of this exposure could and likely results in psychological effects such as the Alter Vue experience.
For Example:
Consider a twig as representative of a single universe. No branches, no junctions. Just a simple, straight twig.
Now, consider a lake of water. That lake represents the consciousness of everything in the multi-verse.
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Place the twig in the lake.
That is how I perceive the confluence and interaction between a universe and consciousness. The small ripples already present in the lake cause the twig to respond by bobbing up and down; Consciousness effecting observable (and quantum) reality.
Now, place another twig in the lake. This near identical twig is a near identical twin of the other twig/universe, nearly equal in all respects to its neighbor. You now have two twigs floating in the lake of consciousness.
If you were to tap one twig floating in the water, it will cause ripples indicative and resulting from that tap. Those ripples will eventually travel to the neighboring twig and cause it to bob in the water.
This bobbing of the second twig is a direct result of actions taken on a neighboring twig and transmitted to the other twig via “consciousness ripples.” Reality causing ripples in the information field. This theorizes an interplay between the two.
This is my theory of the Alter Vue phenomenon. The actions on one universe causing results in neighboring universes via the medium of consciousness.
I don’t believe I am breaking any new philosophical ground here, however. Many before me have speculated on the same possibility outside of the TT question, but it applies nonetheless; I am merely tying consciousness generally to the TT question specifically.
Out of the many aspects of the TT question, I find the Alter Vue phenomenon the most indicative of the larger scale of reality itself. It points to a larger context and implies that there is a great deal we do not yet understand about the reality we inhabit. “Traces of rubber on the runway” as it were.
I’m certain Copernicus would likely be rolling in his grave to learn his was but a very superficial description of a more-than-just-mechanistic universe. There is a ghost in the Grand Machine.
Do you therefore believe in a global consciousness or is Earth simply a small portion, or a twig as you say, of the universal consciousness you described?
Of course. That ‘twig’ is resting on the surface of the lake, after all. And that global consciousness is/must be connected to a larger universal consciousness which is then also connected to that underlying lake, the consciousness that allows information to pass between universes. Again, this is speculation on my part, but informed speculation nonetheless
Do you believe that the “information field” of consciousness can be accessed by human beings?
If the information field exists as I believe it does, yes. I would wager that we are never separate from it. It is likely the water in which we swim.
Obviously, aliens must rely on time travel to reach our planet in a relatively timely manner (no pun intended). Do you also agree that time travel plays a huge role in UFO phenomena?
Obviously?
I have written on the overlap of the UFO and TT question before in my essay entitled “Bending Gravity, Everybody Does it…”. This essay highlighted the apparent confluence of the technology of bending gravity between the UFO and TT questions. I had no idea it was such an obvious connection to make (just teasing you a little, Paula).
I would clarify that your question presupposes that the UFOs and their occupants are ‘time traveling’ to reach us. This was not the thrust of the essay and my current understanding, though I respect your own interpretation. Rather, that the UFO pilots are using similar technology that is also employed in TT. A subtle distinction, but take it for what it’s worth. Also, your question presupposes and assumes that physical travel is required to accomplish all of their aims, which is not necessarily the case.
Are you inferring that even UFO sightings may not actually be physical?
Not necessarily, but there is evidence to show that not all UFO sightings or experiences are, in fact, physical in nature.
Are the topics of time travel and UFO’s intertwined?
I believe so, yes. At the technology level at least. See above.
Could some aliens be evolved human beings visiting ourselves from the future? What are your thoughts?
How do you define human? If in the next 2 million years we theoretically evolve out of the Homo Sapien Sapien species (a species so nice they named it twice) to a different species (Homo Sapien Proximus? Homo Sapien Augustus?) then are they still Human by our current definition? By this argument, and if the theory of evolution is true, then doesn’t that make gibbons human as well?
But to your question, yes, I suppose this is possible.
I wonder, has anyone considered what could be so darn interesting to Homo Augustus 2 million years into our future that would require them to visit us here/now? Don’t they have more interesting problems to investigate? If you had a time/space machine, would you go back to Earth? In 2 million years of TT effort and historical investigations, what else could there be to learn? Is there nothing more interesting in the infinite multi-verse than telling the inhabitants who wins an election?
What interesting and pressing problem do they find so interesting and pressing here and now that it requires their attention, even 2 million years into the future??? This sovereign question alone makes one believe that we are living in interesting times, but perhaps not for the reasons that might be readily observable to us now.
Wouldn’t warping space technically involve time as well since one would be pulling time towards him or herself? (Little bit of a Star Trek reference here).
The overlap I have discerned between the UFO question and the TT question rests at the technological level, not its application. What I mean by this is that it appears, from all known reports on the matters, that the manipulation of gravity as a technology is common to both applications (interstellar travel and “inter-universal” travel, to coin a term).
One could make the comparison to cars versus chain saws. Both technologies make use of the same principles of internal combustion, but apply it towards completely different ends and in completely different arenas (transportation vs logging). Just because we note the commonality in underlying technology does not mean we use Volkswagens to chop down trees.
The same appears to exist between two other arenas: The UFO question and the “Time Travel” question. They both have a similar underlying technology though the application of said technology (the manipulation of gravity) appears to be different.
I am merely highlighting the commonality and attempting to unite two questions that have heretofore been separate.
There is an interesting corollary that can be inferred from this as well and tied back to the John Titor story, albeit a speculative one. That is the idea that the manipulation of gravity and its application in either of these arenas is the ‘state of the art.’ According to reports, which is all we have at the moment, this technology apparently has not been improved upon anywhere/when.
Don’t you find it interesting that, if TT were invented in Tampa in 2036 as TimeTravel_0 claimed, that humanity got it correct right out of the gate? And that that technique has not been improved upon by any civilization with which we have been in contact, anywhere/when? If that’s the case, perhaps we don’t give ourselves enough credit for our ingenuity? Or perhaps there’s more to the ‘history’ of time travel tech?
Do we know for certain that John Titor is truly from Earth? Think, for a moment, about the implications involved if Titor came from another planet. How do you believe this changes the entire John Titor story?
Your question presumes that humans are the only race native to earth that would/could travel through time and traverse the multi-verse. I have no information to the contrary, but let’s acknowledge our assumptions where we find them. And considering no one physically examined Titor and reported back on the original forums, then yes, this is always a possibility that Titor was not human (by our current definition) and/or from a different planet. In a spectrum of possibilities, this is one, yes.
If that were the case, my original question comes back to the fore: What is so interesting that out of a near infinite number of worlds to visit, what makes this one at this time so interesting that they would expend blood and treasure to visit it?
Re-reading that last paragraph, I see an irony: Usually the argument against time travel is “If time travel is real, where are all the time travelers?” I am explicitly stating the exact opposite, “because time travel is real, why is here/now so damn interesting that there are so many time travelers visiting us?”
Are you referring to the possibility that other types of humanoids lived here before we did and that current humanity could be alien hybrids?
I’ll attempt to answer your question with my own questions on the topic.
As a scene setter, when people discuss long lost civilizations, people invariably ask, “if they lived so long on this planet, where is all their technology and ruins left over from their time here? Surely we would find something of theirs besides shaped rocks? Why haven’t we discovered ancient fiber optic cables or computer chips?”
Setting aside for a moment that an ancient civilization solved technological problems the same way we do (using fiber optics or computer chips), many who ask these questions simply do not appreciate the sheer age of the planet (at current estimates).
Take for example plastic. Conventional Wisdom is that plastic is extremely long lived and how it is the bane of the environment. Fair enough. Just doing a quick search on the internet, plastic is estimated to decompose from between 500-1000 years (all things being equal and in very general terms).
This means that if a civilization existed 10,000 years ago, and their civilization was built entirely of plastic, there would be literally zero direct trace of their existence at all. But the premise states that the civilization existed. Just because we cannot see their remains does not mean they didn’t exist. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Take another example: nuclear waste. Uranium 234 has a half-life of 245,000 years. This means that U234 will lose ½ of its radioactivity every 245,000 years. Quite impressive, no? Looks like that’s going to be around for a very long time.
Doing some very quick computations, given a starting point of 500 Becquerels of radiation, it will take 17 ‘generations’ (245,000 each) for the radioactivity to reach .007 Becquerels. This means that U234 will essentially lose all of its radioactivity in 4.2 million years. 4 million years is also a very long time.
But relative to the existence of Earth, it loses its impressiveness.
The earth is currently estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. If we arbitrarily exclude the first billion years to allow for the earth to form and cool to such a point that life may exist upon it (life as we know it of course), this still leaves 3.5 billion years of history to account for. three and a half billion.
This means that U234 would have lost its radioactivity over 800 times by the time we measured it.
If U234 can be utterly lost to time (8 hundred times over) by the time we measure it, then what does that say about the hypothesized civilization that originally mined, refined and used it?
My point here is that the Earth’s age (as currently estimated) leaves a lot of latitude for civilizations and their artifacts to rise, fall and decompose into oblivion and we would never be the wiser.
If that is the case, don’t you find it a little arrogant to believe that civilization “began” in the fertile crescent 2,000 years ago? What was happening 2 billion years ago? We’ll never know.
More of those unseen gears…
Do you personally believe in astral time travel and have you tried it? If so, what were the results of your effort?
Astral Travel is a bit mushy of a word. I prefer to use simply “Out of Body” since it describes what is happening and not necessarily attempts to label the medium in which it occurs. Yes I have experienced it on a number of occasions. In answer to your question, simply: “eye opening.”
Are you working on any other projects you’d like to share with us?
Thanks for asking. I no longer actively investigate the John Titor question per se; that has been answered to my own satisfaction, though I am always open to new gems that add to my understanding.
I now am looking more at the larger context in which the larger TT question resides, some of which I alluded to in my answers above.
If you could recommend a book about time travel to someone, what would it be and why?
You mean, besides Conviction of a Time Traveler? haha.
In terms of reading TT for fun, I have to say that I haven’t read any TT books that weren’t directly connected to researching the topic (as counterintuitive as that may be). That being said, a book called “Time Machines” by Nahin is a useful desk reference that I have made use of several times. It is extremely comprehensive and was instrumental in my research several times. I will say that he has captured some truth in it, though he was likely unaware of it.
Do you plan on writing any more books?
I have considered updating Conviction of a Time Traveler to some small degree but simply have not had the time. There are some tweaks I’d like to make and fix some typos but it is fairly far down the list of my chores.
Be sure to check out Temporal Recon’s blog and to discuss, please visit Paranormalis.
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