During Friday night's show, Oliver Williams provided an update on alleged time traveler John Titor. According to Williams, John Titor traveled to our present in a machine built by GE in 2034. Titor claimed the technological cornerstones of his time machine would soon be discovered. In a March 13, 2001 Internet posting he wrote: "The 'machine' with the energy to do it will come on-line very soon. The 'method' for doing it has already been 'mostly' perfected in the Z machine at the National lab in New Mexico."
Williams cited recently published articles on the Z Machine and Desktop Atom-Smashers as evidence of Titor's claims. He also said Titor received much criticism when he suggested Stephen Hawking's theory that black holes destroy everything that fall into them was incorrect. Hawking has since revised his black hole hypothesis, allowing now for what Titor claimed was the basis of time travel.
Williams also referred to an article in Rochester Magazine about the IBM 5100 computer. Titor claimed he'd traveled from 2036 to retrieve the IBM 5100 in order to resolve computer problems in the future. The 5100, according to Titor, had unpublished features that would allow it to interface with old mainframes still in use in his time. Williams believes Titor "went back home" after the completion of his mission to find and acquire an IBM 5100. (Note: During the show, an eBay auction featuring the IBM 5100 jumped from $58 to $1000.)
Time Travelers
Friday's Open Lines included a special hotline for "Time Travelers." 14-year old Michelle informed George she and her family were from the year 3030. In her time, people drive solar-powered electric automobiles, as well as fly in hover cars. The caller said she would return to 3030 after completing high school. Another caller said he could "sleep travel" to certain points in time. According to the caller, God showed him three events that will take place around mid-November. The first event involved a major earthquake along the Mississippi river. Unfortunately, the call ended unexpectedly, so we can only guess what else the immediate future holds..