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-   -   John Titor, Real Time Traveler (https://thetfp.com/tfp/tilted-paranoia/29422-john-titor-real-time-traveler.html)

taog 11-11-2004 02:27 PM

I know that you are not arguing that they are wrong. The original poster simply stated that he thinks we can go faster than the speed of light, without any type of backup. That kind of bothers me, because the only thing he reasoned was because physics might be wrong. It's too easy to say that. If something was said about fact that photons have been accelerated faster than the speed of light, or some situations in quantum mechanics where it might seem possible, which I have heard of, but will not quote, because I simply don't know enough about it, then I would have no problem with him stating that he thinks we can move faster than the speed of light. To me, if you think something like that, you should have a reason why you think it. If you don't have a good enough reason, you might end up making your own 'cosmological constant' mistake, like Einstein did.

I do agree that it could be possible to move faster than the speed of light with using some differnet type of technology. Something not thought of yet, and possibaly related to quantum mechanics. I, however, find that very unlikely. That's just an opinion, and the reasons why are all the reasons why relativity seems to work in todays physics, which I had stated. I am very open minded, so if I am given good reason as to why things might not work, I will take them into consideration.

I do agree that all physics might take a huge turn in the future. It's guaranteed that physics is going to change, especially relativity, but I really don't think that it will change as far as to say that we can travel faster than the speed of light.

Every time I think about how we could possibly travel faster than light, I think about the fact that light is always the same speed, no matter what reference point you take. If you are moving half the speed of light, someone else is standing still, and you both measure the same beam of light, you both get the same value.

I also think about black holes and what happens with them. ie., mass being sucked in and moving at or faster than the speed of light. What really happens there? What happens to that mass at the event horizon? If singularities exist (Hawking came up with them, and supposedly has disproved himself. I haven't read up on this yet, though), what happens there, in reality?

I'm not only basing my "we can't move faster than light" thoughts on a possibaly needed to be modified formula, I'm also basing it on observations that astronomers have made.

These questions are all valid in trying to figure out if we can move faster than light. The observations we have made leave little room for this case to be true. The easiest way to explain that is to refer to E=mc^2, since it shows the mass increase that happens with black holes and such, which is why I referred to that model.

Is it possible that we could figure out a way to do it? Yes, it could be possible. I just find it so unlikely that I will say that it is impossible.


However, lets look at that situation. Lets assume that a massive object can travel faster than the speed of light, and we'll assume that time dilation still hold true.

Since time dilation changes the rate of your time, would time reverse after you pass the speed of light?

Your time slows down as you move faster. In theory, if you reach the speed of light, your rate of time would then be 0. Does that mean your rate of time would be, lets say, -1 once you reached a curtain speed. Does this mean you would be travelling backwards in time?, or would the rate of your time just be moving at a decreasing speed?

If you take a person at rest. Their rate of time would be going at some speed. Your rate would be 0 at the speed of light, so you wouldn't age compared to them. If you went faster than light, would you start aging negatively? So, you would get younger, in other words?

I guess, if this is the case, you would go back in time, but only to make yourself age negatively. You would get younger, while everyone else around you gets older.

Hmm, this doesn't seem, if this is true, like you would be able to go back in time, in the classic way that this guy claims, using this model. I guess that would leave us with looking at wormholes, or using gravity in some way.

Of course, I may be totally wrong on this, and there could be another way that I haven't thought of. Or, time dilation could be wrong. Either way, I like thinking about things like this.

NegativeNine 11-11-2004 04:19 PM

I wish someone had traced the guy's ip and looked him up in person... Is he still around, or did he stop posting?

TexanAvenger 11-11-2004 07:00 PM

If I remember correctly, he's supposed to have already left a long time ago.

stingc 11-12-2004 12:40 AM

The physics Titor tries to describe is gobbledygook. Most of the terms he uses do exist, but they make no sense when put together that way.

The other physics comments in this thread need correcting though. There has never been a (repeatable) experiment which has contradicted relativity's prediction that nothing moves faster than light. There are various effects which get headlines because they seem to do this, but this is really just because journalists don't understand physics very well (they are fun experiments though).

To clarify a little, relativity does not really say that things go back in time if you move faster than light. It says that any two events which could not be connected by any beam of light will occur in a different order for different observers. Person A will see one event happen before the other, and person B will see the opposite. This is considered ridiculous, so the conclusion is that those two events are not causally connected. In other words, it is information that does not travel faster than light. If it did, you'd have causality problems. There is a lot of fine print to add to this when you include the general theory of relativity, which requires that all of the words I've been using be given much more precise definitions.

Also, quantum mechanics can be made fully consistent with special relativity. This is quantum field theory. Its predictions are very well established, and it required no fundamental modification of either relativity or quantum mechanics. Entaglement etc. is consistent with what I said above. It is only general relativity which brings up problems with quantum mechanics. These are actually quite serious, and their resolution will certainly change physics in a very fundamental way.

I don't know if (backwards) time travel is possible. Special relativity does not allow it. It follows that quantum field theory also does not allow it. General relativity has some solutions involving the ability to travel through time, but they require lots of exotic of matter (might as well call it "negative mass") and don't look anything like the universe that we actually observe. It is possible that people simply haven't been creative enough yet with known physics, but I think this is unlikely. Any description of time travel with our current worldview would be quite hard to mesh with reality.

That said, I think it is likely that physics might discover something allowing some sense of time travel in the future. Although I'm being really speculative right now, I wouldn't be surprised if a quantum theory of gravity would allow this sort of thing at least on a very restricted microscopic scale. That might not mean much though. As physics progresses, the concept of time becomes further and further removed from the everyday meaning. "Time travel" in whichever sense it is eventually understood will probably be very different from the version we've learned about from science fiction.

ManWithAPlan 11-12-2004 04:56 PM

his predictions include a world war iii... that wasn't/isn't that bold of a claim to make i think....

that's like saying In the month of november in the year 2009 it will snow.

Zeraph 11-12-2004 09:00 PM

Just to comment about that infinite future thing and how we'd be overrun with time travelers, well there's one option that was left out, and that is that there isn't infinite futures in the first place. It has not been proven.

taog 11-13-2004 06:00 AM

"Just to comment about that infinite future thing and how we'd be overrun with time travelers, well there's one option that was left out, and that is that there isn't infinite futures in the first place. It has not been proven."

No, but if time travel is more common in the future, like he said, I would assume that we would also know that time travel is more common. More people would have travelled back through time and let us know that it's more common. 2063 or whatever date he gave isn't all that far away.



I want to direct the rest of this post to stingc, and anyone else who is interested. You got me thinking about all this time jazz, and different views on time travel.

First off, nice post, and well worded.

I wanted to kind of go into the whole idea of what we think time travel is.

I always get a little mixed up when it comes to explaining time travel, or the possibility of it. I look at time as being defined differently than most people, and thus, I look at time travel a little different, in a way.

You got me thinking about the different types of time travel.

Like i stated above, which you might be able to verify, if one were to move faster than the speed of light, lets say they could, then do you think their rate of time would then start moving negatively? In other words, do you think they would be able to start becomming younger?

I look at it like this

The following is all in reference to something at rest.

Now, you have a person who is stationary. Their time is moving at a given speed, lets say t0, since they are at rest, and their speed is some value less than the speed of light, lets say v0, which is c, the speed of light, minus v, their speed, 0. So, you would have c as their difference in speed from the speed of light.

Then, you have someone moving the speed of light. Their time is moving at a rate of 0, and their difference in speed compared to the speed of light is 0.

Now, you have someone moving faster than the speed of light. Their difference in speed from the speed of light is the same, but opposite to, the first speed, at rest.


Given these three situations, you would expect that the first one be us, on earth, moving at the same rate of speed as everyone else.

In the second one, the person moving would not be aging at all, but everyone else would be aging at the rate of the first one.

In the third one, the rate of time change would be equal to, but opposite the first. You would be aging, negatively, at the same rate that everyone is aging, positively.


Now, I don't like this idea. I dont' know if this is fully correct, but that is, kind of, what special relativity says. To me, this doesn't sit right and must be impossible, but I can't grasp the words to explain why. I'll try, though.

I keep going back to thinking about the direction of time. I wish I had a brief history of time here, which is where i read about this, where it talked about different types of time. Space-time, which i believe is what we are talking about, is moving in a forward direction, and always will, unless the universe starts to collapse on itself.

Where this gets tricky is when we start talking about what we are viewing as time. Are we actually talking about our space-time being manipulated when we move faster?, or, are we talking about some other type of time? I believe Hawking touches on a theory of time called destructive time. It is also moving in a forward direction for every object, and is dependent on that object. If i am correct about this, this is the time that time dilation refers to. These times will be related, since they live in eachothers worlds. Destructive time can be explained by an object falling off of a table, lets say a cup, and breaks. That object is on it's way to destruction. It can be slowed down so it takes less time to break, if it were to be moved at a faster speed (you would have to move the whole falling object, not move if faster to it's destruction), but it will never reverse and fix itself.

I think this is because you would have to then manipulate the direction of space-time for this to occur.

So, to manipulate your direction of time, you would then have to manipulate the direction of space-time, which is defined by the expansion of the universe. You would have to somehow change the direction of space-time. The only way to do so is by waiting for the universe to collapse on itself, if that will ever happen. Even still, if space-time does start going backwards, due to collapse, does this mean our 'destructive time' will also change direction? Will the cup go back and fix itself?

If you think about our current universe, destructive time kind of makes sense. Ever since the very beginning of the big bang, things have become more and more out of order. It would explain why there is an over-abundance of particles in relation to anti-particles, though probably not enough, but it kind of goes with the whole idea.


Anyway, given this information, which is probably more my way of looking at things, without any proof, rather than anything scientific, the situations i showed above would seem to be impossible. Maybe that's why Einstein's formula about calculating rate of time for a given speed falls apart at speed = c.

Anyway, like I said, I read something about this destructive time stuff in a book somewhere. I believe it was in 'A Brief History of Time', by Stephen Hawking, which is a good read. Either way, the whole idea is to not just base time on one scale. Time seems to have different effects on different things, and seems to be independent for different things, but dependent on everything as a whole (space-time). It's interesting to think about.



Oh, something that also makes me think about defining different types of time and such, and goes with the idea of a space-time and a destructive time (our individual time).

Light seems to be independent of our time. It seems to move with space-time, rather than our time. Something that seems to show this is the fact that, no matter how fast you are moving, light is always measured to be the same speed.

This kind of suggests that space-time is always moving at a constant rate, and we can never manipulate it. That makes sense to me. Our time is what we are manipulating. Space-time moves forward, at a given rate, and our times are within that space time, independent of space-time.

Since they are both a type of time moving forward, at a given rate, they will be somewhat dependent of eachother. One thing that would be dependent between the both would be their direction. Like i said, our rate wouldn't be able to exceed the rate of space-time (you can't move slower than a velocity of 0), and our rate can't go slower than space-time (you can't move faster than light). If you were to do either of these, and succeed, you would have to manipulate space-time.

Any thoughts on this?

stingc 11-14-2004 12:01 PM

I've never heard of destructive time, so I can't comment on it. It sounds more like you're talking about proper times, though. There are many different ways to define time, and proper times are probably the most useful. The proper time with respect to a particular object is simply the time measured by that object. You would usually have a bunch of different objects moving around all with their own internal clocks. This makes things easier because all of the quantities involved are intrinsic to the physical situation. There's less of a worry about having to construct arbitrary coordinate systems.

The sort of definition used for the time dilation formulae is different. It assumes that there is one universal definition of time picked out by a single inertial observer. Time dilation etc. are really not fundamental parts of the theory, but are derived once certain definitions and constraints are made. So you really shouldn't put any meaning to the fact that those equations make no sense for things moving faster than light. If something is doing that, then an observer could see it moving backwards in time. As I said before, though, that observation isn't unique. Someone moving at a different speed would see the object moving forwards in time (both observers would agree that it is moving faster than light though). It is reasonable to assume that causality is something that can be universally agreed upon, so then this situation would be contradictory. So we say it can't happen. This is much more fundamental than the arguments about mass increase, which are a little misleading.

Also, spacetime is not modified by the speed that you travel. It is also not "moving" in any usual sense. In the absence of gravity, spacetime is fixed as a single four dimensional structure. All of the strange effects that people talk about (length contraction etc) are really just due to trying to force a split between space and time that is completely unnatural to the geometry. It is much better to learn about things from the invariant geometric perspective, but I think this is quite rare in introductory books.

timetraveller 11-19-2004 07:21 PM

Titor changed his predictions!
 
Originally he claimed that the USA civil war would occur in 2004... In more recent posts and sites the date was moved forward to 2005.

Unless anything drastic happens in the next six weeks, Titor's original prediction (2004!) would be proven wrong as the clock strikes midnight on new year's eve.

Sorry, John. You've been exposed.

timetraveller 11-19-2004 07:26 PM

Maybe time travel is possible. Maybe there are time travellers among us... But John Titor is not one of them.

(Niether am I, despite my username)

SilverScooter 11-19-2004 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asudevil83
even though this guy is probably one of the best story tellers out there, he does seem pretty damn convincing. some of the stuff he has predicted has come true, or their is support right now in current events that could lead to some of his predictions coming true.

i was browsing around reading a message board that is pretty much dedicated to analyzing the "facts" that he provided. some of the stuff is pretty intriguing.



some of the things that i've read kinda get me second guessing if this guy is for real or not.

any explanation branching from the iraq war being anything less than a "blip on anyone's radar" is an absolute joke. this guy is no more than a political idealist who wants the world to see the error of its ways, love one another, trust people with our lives and bike 10 miles a day. to play upon an impending iraq war (we're talking 2000-2001, right?) is no more than a "prediction" of the obvious. clinton went into iraq in 1998 because due to weapons inspection problems, anyone could have predicted that we weren't going to be able to sit on that bubble for much longer. W campaigned against terror and WMDs before 9/11 happened, everyone did; our time traveler merely trusted a politician's promises (smart guy, huh?) and i wouldn't be surprised if he's sitting at his desk watching it all pan out.

i don't believe a word of what this guy has to say; whether he's a time traveler or a crazy hippie idealist out of bohunk colorado, his bar is way too high. come to think of it, this glaring extreme is a fantastic basis for a doctoral thesis in sociology, don't be surprised if our "time traveler" publishes a book, possibly before the civil war...?

dawnoffawn 05-30-2006 12:29 AM

This guy's "world" reminds me of the past and NOT the future.
It seems he's been reading too much history novels and has mistaken the past with the future.
Nice try, but I DONT buy it. Most of the things he says is common sense nad the rest is just what already took place in the distant past, such as riding horses, eating directly off of farm produce, bad economy, death from diseases. Those all look like the past times in colonial America.

dawnoffawn 05-30-2006 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverScooter
clinton went into iraq in 1998 because due to weapons inspection problems, anyone could have predicted that we weren't going to be able to sit on that bubble for much longer. W campaigned against terror and WMDs before 9/11 happened, everyone did; our time traveler merely trusted a politician's promises (smart guy, huh?) and i wouldn't be surprised if he's sitting at his desk watching it all pan out.

Maybe John Titor is the guy planning all the wars and destruction (and 9/11), so that's why he knew all those things...creepy, huh? :hmm:

stevo 06-06-2006 11:09 AM

of course there are time travelers among us. but we'll never know it because of intertemporal law which forbids any person from going into the past and disclosing that information to residents of the "past" or otherwise profiting from traveling back in time.

Oh, they'll know. Time cop 'll get you. :suave:

squirrelyburt 06-28-2006 09:21 PM

The "skeptics" in here havent listened to enough overnight talk radio. Perhaps the fatigue allows the odd thoughts to penetrate deeper, maybe it makes sense, maybe its just so entertaining.... maybe its real....

I'm gonna go buy water and batteries now.

Sun Tzu 07-02-2006 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psivage
Time Travel is possible, but not to your world. You go to different world Alternate reality, Parallel Worlds. It is common knowledge that, if you do somehow make to the world you lived in, it would cause such disruption that the Universe will begin to experience Time Shocks which is event happening out of order, such as dinosaurs walking the earth, civil war, W II, 9/11, and so forth and so forth. These events will keep on happening until the space-time continuum explodes. The only way to travel in to your own earth is with a Null Field. Which vibrates you out of synch with time continuum. As of yet though the Null Field hasn't been proven a success.

Are you quoting Titor here? Or are you intentionally sounding like another time traveler?

The grandfather paradox still holds weight with me: A man goes back in time, he kills his grandfather, which means he was never born, which means he could have never traveled in time to begin with.

I think perhaps there is something to be said about wormholes. If the technology to fold space is ever developed long distances can be traveled which means by looking at our sun from trillions of light years away we are looking at the past. Thats where is gets fuzzy for me.

Willravel 07-02-2006 09:05 PM

Titor, while a very well studies futurist, has been proven wrong. Kerry (Abe Lincoln-esque president) was not elected in 2004, no civil war, no more Waco like attacks (unless you count 9/11, which I suspect he would have mentioned with more enthusiasm). Whoever this guy is would make a great writer. Too bad he wasted his talents on fortune telling.

I can do it too, you know. Spoiler: After years of wars in the Middle East, the US will be fighting terrorism in South America, specifically in Venezuela. After that, we will fight the war on tyrany with China. How do I know this? Simple. There are patterns in history that tend to occour. Rome is an excellent model upon which to predict political decisions and events.

samcol 07-18-2006 04:19 AM

I don't know much about the science, but I thought this prediction was interesting.
www.johntitor.com
Quote:

Does the current relationship between Arabs and Jews have anything to do with the coming war?
(63) Real disruptions in world events begin with the destabilization of the West as a result of degrading US foreign policy and consistency.

(64) This becomes apparent around 2004 as civil unrest develops near the next presidential election.

(65) The Jewish population in Israel is not prepared for a true offensive war. They are prepared for the ultimate defense.

(66) Wavering western support for Israel is what gives Israel's neighbors the confidence to attack.

(67) The last resort for a defensive Israel and its offensive Arab neighbors is to use weapons of mass destruction.
Quote:

02-09-2001 02:02 PM

Waco, Ruby Ridge and Elian exist in your news archives. Telling you about impending plane crashes or other disasters (provided I could give you exact dates and times) may save lives at one point but cause cascading changes that take others at a later point.
Also, from the perspective of the story a waco event isn't neccessarily slaughtering religious cults in their compounds, but more of the federal government grossly overstepping its authority and trashing the constitution. That's what I gathered from reading the story. Things like the wiretapping stories, Bushes signing statements, Katrina events, torture, thousands of militarized police officers during RNC/DNC, and the list goes on and on. I guess that's my interpretation of it.

hotzot 07-24-2006 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu
The grandfather paradox still holds weight with me: A man goes back in time, he kills his grandfather, which means he was never born, which means he could have never traveled in time to begin with.

I killed my Grandpa and I'm still here/:icare:

longbough 08-05-2006 10:25 AM

For the record I haven't combed over Titor's information or predictions yet ... I will when I get a chance.

As far as the "physics" goes I'd like to see a REAL schematic of his machine ... not just illustrations that communicate more esthetic information than technical info. I used to be a researcher in physics at Lawrence Berkeley Labs before I became an MD. I'll go through his website to see if there's anything there.

I'll let y'all know what I think. I'm skeptical but open-minded, too.

After inventing the first time machine far beyond the abilities of the greatest minds and budgets in science/technology in the world today
and with all he's learned from Earth 2036,
I'm disappointed this man still can't manage to make clear, high-resolution digital images.

BTW - has this man brought back any "stuff" from 2036? Like some of the latest PDAs or gizmos? Or does he have an explanation of why that's not possible. Remember, any argument based on causality falls apart because he's already in violation of causality by being able to go back and forth in time.

Like I said, I haven't read his stuff yet ... I'm just giving you my initial impressions.

If he can tell us the results of the next 12 World Series I'll be 100% convinced.

*Update:
I read some of his stuff ... nothing I didn't expect. What's the purpose of being cryptic unless you are unable to be specific? And, as far as his political commentary, he's not saying anything that hasn't been said by other folks before ... the only difference is that he claims to be a time traveller.

One thing I know about sociopaths (and I've talked with many of them) is that they take advantage of other people's desire to believe in oddities. The year is 2006 ... I must've missed the US Civil War of 2004 ... or was it 2005?

Infinite_Loser 08-17-2006 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by longbough
The year is 2006 ... I must've missed the US Civil War of 2004 ... or was it 2005?

I was wondering the same thing...

Anyway, I really didn't read that whole site; I just skimmed through it. Most of that stuff is way over my head, anyway.

longbough 08-17-2006 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infinite_Loser
Anyway, I really didn't read that whole site; I just skimmed through it. Most of that stuff is way over my head, anyway.

It's not over your head ... it's just unorganized, poorly written and referentially obscure. ... not to mention boring.

If he's a time traveller on a mission to collect objects from time periods why does he spend ALL his time on message boards, preaching predictions for us in this time period and writing/selling books?

Willravel 08-17-2006 07:30 PM

I will admit that my first thought upon rediscovering his site and finding fault in his predictions was, "That idiot changed history..."

I watch way too many science fiction movies.

Ch'i 08-17-2006 08:44 PM

Sounds like a futurist posing as a time traveler.

Infinite_Loser 08-17-2006 10:52 PM

I'm kinda' wondering why he doesn't take the power to time travel and save the (Supposed) 3 billion people that are going to die in 2015.

Of course, I don't understand anything about quantum physics, so I'd be willing to bet that there's some underlying theory of time travel which states that the past can't be changed (Or something along those lines).

Quote:

Originally Posted by willravel
I will admit that my first thought upon rediscovering his site and finding fault in his predictions was, "That idiot changed history..."

I watch way too many science fiction movies.

Perhaps John Titor is the reason why Kerry lost the 2004 election and the reason why the US civil war of 2005 never occurred. If the US civil war of 2005 never occurred, then I wonder if John Titor also managed to save 3 billion people from dying in 2015.

Or better yet, maybe John Titor changed history so that he never came in the past. Of course, if he never travelled back through time, then why do we still remember him...?

Edit: I got around to reading up on his predictions regarding WWIII, and I have to say it's a bunch of baloney.

1.) As we're all aware of, there hasn't been a US civil war for almost 120+ years. Since there was no civil war 2005, there is no AFE (American Federal Empire) of which Russia will be fighting against.

2.) First of all, I don't see China being able to forcibly annex Taiwan, Korea and Japan by the year 2012 (Or any time soon for that matter) and second of all, I don't see China launching a failed invasion of Australia. Nothing against you Aussies, but if China is able to overpower Taiwan, Korea and Japan, then they shouldn't have much problem with Australia. Of course, Australia could very well be the world super power in 2012, so what do I know...

3.) As we are all aware, the reason that the United States and Russia didn't attack each other during the Cold War was because of MAD. If Russia didn't attack the United States during the Cold War for this very reason, then why the hell would it launch nucleur attacks against the United States, China and most of the European Union?

4.) How does Russia survive but not China or the European Union?

Quote:

21 November 2000 10:41 () 83
My first experience with war came when I joined a shotgun infantry unit at the age of thirteen. In the 4 years I served as a �rebel�, I watched hundreds of people get shot, burn and bleed to death. I know exactly where I was and every detail of the exact moment the first nuclear warheads began falling on Jacksonville.
I know where I was when Jacksonville was bombed; I was reading the book "Alas, Babylon!" by Pat Frank.

His depiction of a nuclear war with Russia is almost the same as those depicted in the novel. The only thing he did was basically create a sequel to the story (He begins his story where the novel ends). In fact, anyone who's read the book would pick up on this instantly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alas,_Babylon

Quote:

Alas, Babylon is considered by some to be an inspiration for John Titor's claim of time travel and description of nuclear war in the 2010s.
There ya' go :thumbsup:

longbough 08-18-2006 06:04 AM

Quote:

21 November 2000 10:41 () 83
My first experience with war came when I joined a shotgun infantry unit at the age of thirteen. In the 4 years I served as a �rebel�, I watched hundreds of people get shot, burn and bleed to death. I know exactly where I was and every detail of the exact moment the first nuclear warheads began falling on Jacksonville.
Holy Heck, I didn't see that one!
"Shotgun infantry unit?" OMG. A unit comprised exclusively of shotgunners: useless in just about every type of military engagement known. That's the type of factual/logical blunder only a bullshitter could make.

Bill O'Rights 08-18-2006 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by longbough
A unit comprised exclusively of shotgunners: useless in just about every type of military engagement known.

At the risk of being counted as a Titor supporter...that not entirely true. When I was in the Air Force, I was on a Tactical Response Force. We relied heavily on the use of shotguns, for close in combat. Remington 870s, to be exact. That said, we were a highly specialized unit, in no way to confused with an "infantry".

Besides...in a "post-apocolyptic" world, who's to say? I can certainly envision armies that are forced to resort to arming themselves with whatever was at hand. The Confederate army, in the "1st" Civil War (:rolleyes:) used whatever they could get their hands on.

I call BS on John Titor. But not for being in a "shotgun infantry".

Oh...and by the way...I first read Alas, Babylon in 1978, and several times since. If you haven't read it, I recommend it. It's a very good read. Fairly accurate, and realistic, portrayal of the Strategic Air Command, too. Pat Frank obviously did his homework.

FoxyLucy 08-18-2006 09:35 AM

I have never seen or heard of this before, really fascinating - though I can´t help but think it´s a hoax.

longbough 08-18-2006 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill O'Rights
At the risk of being counted as a Titor supporter...that not entirely true. When I was in the Air Force, I was on a Tactical Response Force. We relied heavily on the use of shotguns, for close in combat. Remington 870s, to be exact. That said, we were a highly specialized unit, in no way to confused with an "infantry".

Geez. I just knew someone would to try to bring up something like that. I stand by what I said.

As you state, the shotgun is a CQB tool especially effective for the purpose of entry. Still, an entry team isn't going to be exclusively dependent on 870s, right? While you might have relied heavily on the 870 - did you consider yourself a "shotgun team"? It's hard to believe you wouldn't also rely on the M4 and M16A2 among other tools at your disposal depending on the task at hand.

And, as you state, you were not an infantry unit.

Despite how it sounds I wasn't trying to dismiss the combat shotgun at all. (Even though I favor my AR carbine). What I said was, "A unit comprised exclusively of shotgunners: useless in just about every type of military engagement known." Do you disagree?

It seems to me that if Titor had any form of tactical training (or basic firearm knowledge) he'd be more precise with his terminology.

Willravel 08-18-2006 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by longbough
Geez. I just knew someone would to try to bring up something like that. I stand by what I said.

As you state, the shotgun is a CQB tool especially effective for the purpose of entry. Still, an entry team isn't going to be exclusively dependent on 870s, right? While you might have relied heavily on the 870 - did you consider yourself a "shotgun team"? It's hard to believe you wouldn't also rely on the M4 and M16A2 among other tools at your disposal depending on the task at hand.

And, as you state, you were not an infantry unit.

Despite how it sounds I wasn't trying to dismiss the combat shotgun at all. (Even though I favor my AR carbine). What I said was, "A unit comprised exclusively of shotgunners: useless in just about every type of military engagement known." Do you disagree?

It seems to me that if Titor had any form of tactical training (or basic firearm knowledge) he'd be more precise with his terminology.

In a post apocalyptic world, a regiment armed with toothpicks and slngshots would have an advantage of unarmed people. In an unarmed world, the man with the shotgun is king.

longbough 08-18-2006 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willravel
In a post apocalyptic world, a regiment armed with toothpicks and slngshots would have an advantage of unarmed people.

And that same regiment can be wiped out by mice armed with swiss mini-revolvers.

Infinite_Loser 08-18-2006 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willravel
In a post apocalyptic world, a regiment armed with toothpicks and slngshots would have an advantage of unarmed people. In an unarmed world, the man with the shotgun is king.

Just to clear something up.

John Titor was born in 1998, correct? By the time he's fourteen, the year would be 2012/2013. World World III doesn't occur until 2015. Therefore, it's not a post-apocalyptic world yet and one would have to think that there are better weapons than a shotgun.

Of course, the United States is supposed to be going through a civil war at the time, and seeing as he is part of the "Rebellion", perhaps the best they could get were shotguns to fight against the AFE with...

Willravel 08-18-2006 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infinite_Loser
Just to clear something up.

John Titor was born in 1998, correct? By the time he's fourteen, the year would be 2012/2013. World World III doesn't occur until 2015. Therefore, it's not a post-apocalyptic world yet and one would have to think that there are better weapons than a shotgun.

Of course, the United States is supposed to be going through a civil war at the time, and seeing as he is part of the "Rebellion", perhaps the best they could get were shotguns to fight against the AFE with...

Shotguns do strike me as a last resort type of weapon. In an ideal situation, something powerful, automatic, and versitile would be used, and shotguns would be used in zombie movies (zombie movies pwn). But, yeah, after a civil war between the state and the individual, the US would be quite the wastelnd. They - the freedom fighters - would be lucky to have shotguns, and if they are the only weapon available I can see them being usefull. Of course I have no undertanding or experience pertaining to shotguns or firearms in general, so I do have to take longbough's word as being reliable.

Either way, the civil war is at least 10-25 years off, and WWIII isn't going to go down between the US and China. Think more like Humanity vs. Neo Sapiens (genetically engineered humans). My time machine was made by Honda, so it is less likely to break down and it get's better fuel econemy. :thumbsup:

Bill O'Rights 08-19-2006 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by longbough
What I said was, "A unit comprised exclusively of shotgunners: useless in just about every type of military engagement known." Do you disagree?

Under ideal conditions, proper weapons are available for specific conditions. Typically, that would be an assault rifle. I do concede that point. However, consider WWI. When the infantry would go "over the top", to assault the opposing trench, it was the rifleman's rersponsibility to protect the shotgunners until they could actual get into the enemy's trenches. Once in, the shotgunners could basically "clean house". Right tool for the right job, and the shotgun will always have a place in the toolbox.

Quote:

Originally Posted by longbough
It's hard to believe you wouldn't also rely on the M4 and M16A2 among other tools at your disposal depending on the task at hand.

Actually, the GUU-5P was our rifle of choice. And, of course, the Baretta 9mm after they replaced the S&W .38s.
But...again, I was in the Air Force. I was not in an "infantry". I was on a highly specialized response force. Our means, and our methods, were not conventional.
Counter terrorism is nothing new. We were preparing for it over 20 years ago, and we were good. And shotguns played a very large part of that, albeit not the only part.

In any event...none of this has anything to do with the fraud (I believe) that is...John Titor.

longbough 08-19-2006 08:02 AM

I believe Titor said the civil war was in 2004. Or did he change the date?

And it's interesting to note that we're the ones who have to introduce the possiblity of resources being so sparse that we couldn't assemble enough rifles to equip our troops. C'mon. They can build friggin' time machines but can't figure out how to mass produce rifles? Even in WW2 the US could grab enough scrap and collect enough raw materials to make M1 Garands.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill O'Rights
Actually, the GUU-5P was our rifle of choice. And, of course, the Baretta 9mm after they replaced the S&W .38s.

Having no access to the GUU-5P I make do with my AR (16" POF upper, Aimpoint Comp M2 sight, Surefire vertical foregrip, the improved USSOCOM M4 5 position stock), my FAL (18" Belgian Congo configuation) and a few 1911s (9mm is subpar IMO - I've dealt with many gunshot wounds and will tell you first-hand that there's a big difference between the 9mm and .45 - that's why I stick to the .45). I've trained primarily with the pistols and the carbine. So if the future is so strapped on resources that everyone is underequipped ... I guess looters would regret coming to my place.

RonRyan85 08-30-2006 10:33 AM

Time Traveler?????
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Xiangsu
I just found about this guy from a link from Sledge. Apparently he is a real time traveler from the year 2036. This is really interesting and makes you wonder about some things. Although, he said some of this stuff about a civil war was going to start in 2004 and that sounds a little soon for me. Do you think he's for real? http://www.johntitor.com/


Maybe not a "CIVIL WAR" but war with the ISLAMIC TERRORISTS
started on September 9,2001. As for John Titor...my opinion
of this idea of time travelling is weirder than my questions
about "if the American people believe we are being visited by
aliens from space and are they abducting people?".

My other comment is your wondering about "Time traveler John
Titor" would make a good Sci-Fi Movie but that's about all.:D

Willravel 08-30-2006 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonRyan85
Maybe not a "CIVIL WAR" but war with the ISLAMIC TERRORISTS
started on September 9,2001. As for John Titor...my opinion
of this idea of time travelling is weirder than my questions
about "if the American people believe we are being visited by
aliens from space and are they abducting people?".

My other comment is your wondering about "Time traveler John
Titor" would make a good Sci-Fi Movie but that's about all.:D

Actually the UK and the League of nations are responsible for the war with terrorists, and it started a long time before 2001. Just fyi.

Ch'i 08-31-2006 10:44 PM

Yeah, there are way too many holes in his predictions.

longbough 09-01-2006 04:40 PM

If he's got so many important missions to do ... why the hell does he NEED to convince us? Why should he even care about what the public thinks? Why does he need to sell his book on 20th century Amazon.com? Does he need 20th century money?


If I made a time-machine and I had a mission in the 1940s - wouldn't I just haul ass to do my job without drawing attention? Why would I spend all my time writing books and calling radio shows trying to convince everyone I was from the year 2006? What's the point?


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