Re: Offer more than "I think"
MEM,
Of course, I don’t need to remind you that I think the Titor story is a crock of dog doo. But since you wrote the above, I thought it would be a good opportunity to coalesce a lot of my rationale that I have provided in so many threads. Perhaps some will see/understand how the story behind the John Titor Experiment (as I call it) is directly related to surrendering your FREE WILL to create the future that you wish to live in. I think it is hard to argue with my rationale, from a scientific standpoint. Certainly, you can argue from an emotional standpoint (of which “anything could happen” is the biggest emotional response), but if you live your life by only emotions then you are sure to die that way as well. With that, here is my rationale:
1) FACT: The ONLY “evidence” any of us has for the John Titor story is INFORMATION. This scientific and technical term covers all of the material the alleged John Titor left for us… both his writings and his photographic/scanned offerings. It is nothing more (or less) than physical information.
**2) FACT: ** It has been known for over 100 years now (but has been known more widely in the past 30 years since the computer boom) that INFORMATION is the key physical element which can control how/when/why energy is expended (i.e. changes its form). My favorite example comes from my domain of specialty, which is closed loop control systems. “Feedback” is a very special form of information that permits closure of a dynamic control loop. Closing such loops has shown enormous capabilities for developing high-performance (and energy-stingy) systems.
**3) FACT: ** Information is a “neutral metric” with respect to our physical manifestation in Massive SpaceTime. (I can show mathematically with my equations how information is independent of Time altogether) What I mean by this is that information, in and of itself, cannot be labeled “right” or “wrong” until it is connected to events (and solid evidence) in physical reality. For example: I can give you information that says the whole world will blow up tomorrow. Whether or not the world actually blows up is immaterial to the fact that information was provided, and it conveyed a clear meaning. This fact about information is precisely why Titor’s story is not falsifiable: It is nothing more than information which is not tied (or only very loosely tied) to factual evidence associated with our physical, energy-based reality.
4) FACT: Even today (2005) there is no known, viable, and (most importantly) scientifically-validated (or even scientifically-accepted) theoretical basis for achieving actual time travel of a physical human form. While a good scientist will not rule it out, none of the “keepers of good science” are standing up (esp. not Hawking…yeah, I know, cheap shot!), pointing to a theory, and saying “this is the way to achieve time travel as mankind has always dreamed of it.”
**5) FACT: ** We live in the information age. Since the advent of personal computing, and especially the internet, the ability to generate (some would say “craft”) information has grown exponentially. Some would even make a scientific claim that the literal explosion in total information has made it difficult for the “average man” to discern between “useful” information (which is related to and accurately explains factual evidence) and information that might be considered “less than useful” (or even detrimental).
**6) FACT: ** One byproduct of this information explosion has been in how advertising will “use” information to try to sell you something that you may not have even thought you needed. IOW, information can be “crafted” to create a perceived need where none existed before. This is actually a corollary to item #2 above, for in doing this advertisers are showing that INFORMATION has the ability to control your own, personal, expenditures of energy.
And all of this is what leads to my analysis (that would be my OPINION based on the FACTS I have just laid out):
The John Titor Experiment was crafted because of the ability for information to control certain types of people and their expenditures of energy. To agree with something very astute that I believe it was jmpet who said: “Time Travel is the McGuffin of the Titor story”, referring to the Alfred Hitchcock ploy for making a movie “about nothing” interesting (also touted by Seinfeld in its day). The John Titor Experiment is just one small (but some could claim effective) volley in an information war. The intent was to create a coherent set of INFORMATION that could be used to CONTROL the energy expenditures of CERTAIN TYPES OF PEOPLE. (I call them gullible, but that is my personal opinion). The “reality” of the John Titor Experiment comes down to one, and only one thing: Your Free Will. That is all that matters, and that is the only thing which is either going to “validate” the Titor information, or render it INVALID. Please read those last two lines over and over, as they are important. The ONLY thing that matters is your Free Will. Ignore the time-traveling man behind the curtain (because he isn’t real anyway)! 
And to all you Titor sycophants, I offer a friendly suggestion: Be careful how you expend energy in response to the tellings of the John Titor Experiment. You may be giving up your Free Will without even knowing it. Isn’t it interesting how John Titor shares one, major element with other information-based legends down through history (and with the concept of many religions)? That shared element is that you have to “give up any prior convictions and simply BELIEVE.”
This is the most glaring danger of the John Titor Experiment: It is asking you to give up the most important element of science (the need for evidence to verify), and “just believe”. That is not progress people… that is a throwback to the dark ages where the Church dictated right from wrong, true from false, and told you what you should believe.
But all of this post is just information. Take it for what you will, and above all DO NOT SIMPLY BELIEVE ME. Investigate for yourself. Adopt the principles of science. Discover where neutral information can sway how you choose to expend energy, and towards what cause.
Kind Regards,
RMT
