New/Fun/Scientific Idea

J

jmpet

Quantum Scribe
Chucky writes:
"Wow. Some of the hoaxes here a really, really bad. I mean come on now. Anyone here ever take polls about which ones are the looniest and which ones appear at least reasonable? Beyond that, is there any "scoreboard" where any/all of these wacky predictions are tracked? There's gotta be some real gems that have come, gone, and since been proven trash?"
http://www.timetravelinstitute.com/ttiforum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=ttclaims&Number=42368&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=9&vc=1

I would actually like to see more of it. I propose a contest on this website. The contest starts in a week and ends in six months or so- it shouldn't take that long actually. Everyone can play this contest with no restrictions.

The contest is to see who can fake out everyone on this website by proving they are a time traveler from the future.

This can only be done with the consent of this website, because more than one user name is a TOS violation and grounds for termination and besides, it's unethical to do without permission- it ruins the fun for everyone.

To play this game, you get another user name for this site, make up your story and present yourself as a true time traveler from the future. Your job is to convince us that you really are a time traveler, and by that I mean not get busted as a fake by this board, and by that I mean by any reasonable logical explanation, or argument, or contradiction- to have a rock solid story that you are a time traveler from the future with no holes in it... to have an answer for most questions posed- the standards to weigh this against is Titor's.

If you are busted- if you are proven a fake or cannot explain or answer something asked of you, you're out. Don't drag it out- once you're busted, you're busted. At that point, you should reveal who you are and be done with it.

Of course as you're doing this, there are other people out there doing the same thing. Your job as a poster to this site is to bust other fake time travelers also. By busting them, you're eliminating them from this contest- and by that I mean discrediting their claim and them giving up- once again, don't drag it out.

I imagine most people will be busted within the first month- just getting past the "IP address issue" is an issue onto itself no less the story no less the questions.

You can be a time traveler from any place and time anywhere- the story is yours to make up and sell us- the floor's wide open.

One last thing- as a time traveler from the future, you gotta have a story and answers- you can't say "I am only here to observe. If I interfere, it will ruin timespace"... that doesen't count.

THE PRIZE

The prize for this contest is a newly designed/redesigned official Time Travel Institute t-shirt. Since the TTI site does not have a newly designed t-shirt, we need one of you guys to come up with a design for a new Time Traveler Institute T-shirt- design the T-shirt art and submit it to whoever owns this site, the owner selects the winner and the winner gets the free T-shirt. The winning artwork becomes the property of Time Travel Institute and they now have two t-shirts to sell, the winner gets bragging rights. As far as the free t-shirt goes, I'll happily pay cafepress.com or whatever other online printing company charges for one t-shirt.

The design is yours to design. Of course it has to say "Time Travel Institute" on it... maybe the Titor logo as well... make it look cool... the floor's open.

REGISTRATION
To register for this contest, you tell the site owner who you are and who you're faking yourself as. The site owner is also the judge and must confirm the winner as a contestant and not an actual time traveler. We have to keep some integrity here.

Is this worth doing? Please post your thoughts. But I would like to get permission from the site owner before we start, so if enough of you think this is an interesting idea we'll ask permission and not start the contest until it's officially announced.

PS- All time traveler claims deserve equal merit. Just because a dozen people pop up at once all claiming to be time travelers does not prove they're not time travelers- all claims are valid until disproven.

Well? Your thoughts...
 
Dear jmpet,

"all claims are valid until disproven"

You are claiming this is scientific? Who and how does the disproving? What if people don't agree something's been disproven? I could be wrong but I don't get the feeling that science is this loosy-goosy. For example in scientific experiments there is a test group and a control group, that's an accepted standard.
 
We, the readers of this website do the disproving. Let me give an example- say someone claims they're a time traveler and makes predictions that either do not come true or are never specific enough to be considered a prediction ("the winter is going to be cold"), then they have no valid claim as a time traveler- then they're busted. So when they're busted, they should do the honorable thing and stop trying to scam us- because they were busted.

Or if they post pics of their time machine and someone figures out it's really the inside to a washing machine... that's proof that the time traveler is a fake. Over on the other board we have Zeshua prediction that "disaster looms". This is not a prediction- this is a vague reference to nothing- this is not a valid time traveler claim- it is a scammer playing it safe so they don't get busted.

"All claims are valid until disproven" also means that if a dozen time travelers suddenly start posting out of the blue that we should take these time travelers seriously until we are reasonably sure they are simply full of it- we should treat all claims as valid until disproven.

If we agree to do this and the site gives consent and I post "let the games begin" that if the next day the time traveler Zantac 75 from Romulus shows up, we should treat this as a valid claim- you see?

This is supposed to be a fun exercise that teaches us all many things- it uses our experience as TTI posters to expose frauds, it also gives people a chance to show all the fake time travelers out there how it's really done. It requires an imagination and it's fun. The website gets a new t-shirt design out of it and someone here gets bragging rights.

If you're looking for a test and control group, then can you please find us a few real time travelers who will go along with this experiment for us?
 
Here is a post from "TheRealDeal":

"First I will not discuss the scientific details of TIME TRAVEL, AND THAT GOES FOR PICTURES. Here are the reasons The Science of Time Travel is TOP SECRET for your time line. I am not allowed to give information, it is like asking a scientist at DOD, to give out information about a NUCLEAR BOMB, then call him a liar when he refuses to comply."

This is not a valid time traveler claim. If you can't talk about the technology or the time machine or post pictures... if you can't explain or predict anything and you're just here to state you're a time traveler, then you have no valid claim- you're not bringing anything of value to this website apart from your outrageous and unprovable claims.
 
Dear jmpet,

"we should treat this as a valid claim- you see?"

No, I am sorry I don't. It kinda seems like you are all over the map when it comes to a scientific approach. I don't think what you are proposing is at all scientific.

""All claims are valid until disproven" also means that if a dozen time travelers suddenly start posting out of the blue that we should take these time travelers seriously until we are reasonably sure they are simply full of it- we should treat all claims as valid until disproven."

How do you scientifically define "reasonable sure"? And what are the scientific criteria for disproving? Your other reply gave an example of what is not acceptable. As I understand science, it proposes theory and those theories make a claim as to what IS true. So far you are giving exampels by exception... showing us what is not valid. Let me give an example:

I am a being from another planet that is in the form of a giant taco that craps out ice cream.

So by your rules you have to take this as valid. Now disprove it.
 
1. I did not write this because I was looking for a fight. I wrote this because I thought it would be a cool fun idea for everyone on this board to participate in.

2. What is your fixation on "the scientific approach"? This is not a scientific website- this is a time travel website which is as best sci fi. We are here to entertain ourselves and discredit the occasional half-baked time traveler claims as they pop up on this site.

3. "All claims are valid until disproven" means that if a real time traveler pops in in the middle of this that they should not be discredited just because we have this contest going on.

4. "Reasonably sure" means within the bounds of reason. For example-

Hi- I am a time traveler from the future. I can't post any pics or tell you how I got here because that would alter the timeline and I would be popped out of existence. I also can't tell you about the future or any inventions or world changing events- I am only here to state I am a time traveler. I am not here to show you anything or prove anything apart from saying I am from the future.

This is not a valid claim.

5. "I am a being from another planet that is in the form of a giant taco that craps out ice cream" is exactly the kind of unreasonable time traveling stories I would like to avoid- no one would believe it, you cannot prove it and you have nothing to add to this forum apart from a wild and unsubstantiated claim that is impossible to prove. While you could win such a contest by stating something totally absurd and unprovable like this, this is not the point of the contest.

The contest is in essence to see how can fake the best John Titor story. But since we already have a John Titor story, each player has to make up their own unique and interesting backstory- something to tell the folks. You can be from the past or the future, you can physically be here or spiritually or via computer. You can be human, ghost, alien or giant taco. But when your story simply makes no sense, you're busted. When you're proven to be nothing more than a hoaxer, the hoax is over.

"How will you know when the hoax is proven?"

When the story makes no sense. If you're from Australia, your IP ahouldn't say you're from Texas. If you're from 2500ad, you shouldn't talk like you're from 2006 Los Angeles. If you make a prediction that does not happen, you were wrong. If you make only vague predictions that can mean any of 100 different things- they're not predictions- they're educated guesses. When your time travel machine is proven to be a washing machine, you're busted. When you say you can give winning lottery numbers and you don't- that means you never could.

When somone points out that "TheRealDeal" left this site in frustration after 15 posts that were largely ignored then four days later "Chucky" shows up and starts posting here and the IP trace on both addresses points to the same place, the reasonable possibility exists that both are the same person- that kind of thing.

This is what "reasonable" means: within the bounds of reason.
 
Dear jmpet,

"I did not write this because I was looking for a fight. "

Hmm. So whenever someone questions you or what you are proposing, do you always call this a "fight"?

"What is your fixation on "the scientific approach"?"

Uhh. You brought it up dude. It's in the title of your thread here. Are you telling me not to fixate on "some" words you use?

"if a real time traveler pops in in the middle of this that they should not be discredited just because we have this contest going on."

OK. I got it now. It's a contest. Right. I agree. That's all it is, just a contest, or entertainment. So then it's not science, right? It's not scientific to accept a claim as valid, it's just for the purposes of the contest. OK.

"When somone points out that "TheRealDeal" left this site in frustration after 15 posts that were largely ignored then four days later "Chucky" shows up and starts posting here and the IP trace on both addresses points to the same place, the reasonable possibility exists that both are the same person- that kind of thing."

So what are you saying with this? Is this just a mere insult at me, or a direct accusation? Do you not like me being here? I am getting the feeling that you're the bigshot here. No one should question you, because if they do you are going to "fight". I am just trying to understand your own use of the word "scientific" with respect to the entertainment contest you are organizing. That is not a fight unless you make it one, eh?
 
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