"How can someone prove to you they have time traveled?"

That's the question. I was asked to post this in the same spirit as my previous question.

I'm posing this seriously, so please respond in kind.

In the same spirit as my previous question post, I will try to be diligent and respond to every post. I appreciate anyone interested taking the time and effort to respond.

To me, this is an area that would require some thought, because a lot of evidence can be faked. With that in mind I'm withholding my response until I give this a little more thought.

I will post my response when I have something.

Thank you for your answers in advance.



[edit on 19-1-2007 by OnTheDeck]

[edit on 19-1-2007 by OnTheDeck]

that is a good question. Id be tempted to say that it would be almost impossible since in this day in age almost anything can be faked somehow. Its quite ironic though that to have the technology to time travel you would also automatically have the technology to fake the evidence for it.

if someone came here from the future, all they would have to do to prove it would be to bring some object from the future that would be testable as to the veracity of said object. A newspaper or history book that gave information about specific events that were to take place in the near future.

Say I came to you and said I was a traveller from the year 2050 and I had a book detailing next big stock market crash, which takes place in a week. Or a printout of the newspaper from this coming monday. or I simply pulled out a piece of paper and said to you "bet on the Colts, take the over, bet on the Saints and the under, take the knicks, Heat, Lakers, Pacers and then bet on the following 9 horses to win their respective races at churchill downs." Now, if I went 100% on my predictions, I'd say my information was fairly accurate and might lead you to believe I was coming from the future.

Even if you didn't fully believe, you'd be rich and, therefore, willing to play along.

If I said I could time travel and I was going to go back in time and then return with proof, I could go back to, say the dawn of microsoft, buy $1000 worth of stock in your name and return with a statement showing you are worth a fortune.

I know!

This is crazy! How could this be done? I haven't thought of something yet, but I think there are probably infinite possibilities.

There has to be some out there.

Thank you for responding! We're on the same page. I'm still working on it...

The first part of your response is self-evident,

all they would have to do to prove it would be to bring some object from the future that would be testable as to the veracity of said object.

We are looking for proof (i.e., something that can be verified).

You also gave something specific,

A newspaper or history book that gave information about specific events that were to take place in the near future.

Could these items be faked? I would say yes. However, if they indicated events that are to come to pass, then after time they could be proved accurate. This is a possibility.

You also said,

and I had a book detailing next big stock market crash, which takes place in a week. Or...this coming monday. or ...a piece of paper and said ... "bet on the Colts, take the over, bet on the Saints and the under, take the knicks, Heat, Lakers, Pacers and then bet on the following 9 horses to win their respective races at churchill downs." Now, if I went 100% on my predictions, I'd say my information was fairly accurate and might lead you to believe I was coming from the future.

That is so much information to provide. It would be hard to provide all of that and have it be accurate unless you had inside information on our present timeline, or you had access to this matetrial.

However, would this be absolute proof that "you time traveled"? It would give an indication that you had access to information, but I wonder if it would be solid proof/evidence.

What if you had psychic ability? You could predict the same things. What if you had "inside information" on these events? Insider trading, gambling tips, etc. How do we rule out other possibilities?

We want to show beyond a reasonable doubt that "you time traveled".

Is there a fool proof way to do this? I mean a way that cannot be debunked, or explained by some other means.

Do you see what I'm saying? We want to prove to the skeptics that "you time traveled".

Thank you very much for your response, Crakeur!

I'm looking for more ideas...I'm still thinking myself...

How about these items?

Billy Meier offered photo evidence of dinosaurs and other planets (Youtube or google video "Billy Meier". Theres a video showing prehistory photos).

I saw the photos. They were presented as real, and were interesting, but it didn't prove time travel to me...

I don't know if photos/videos could be used to prove this...

What about video from the crucifiction of Christ? Or video of dinosaurs? Or video of our future society?

get me some physical evidence that will exist exactly like that in the future, with you having no way of manufactering it.

but there's also the problem of causality (that the right word?). If someone from the future came to the now and said to bet on something, wouldnt the act of you betting on something that you wouldn't have done normally changed the rest of the future, so that the traveller might not have been able to visit you in the first place?

Or if we went back now & bought some proof back, like a signed picture of Ra or something, that would also change the future.

Unless of course, everything is already mapped out or written so that anything we do or dont do is already accounted for in the future...uurrgh time travel whips my head.

Im just thinking about if people like the annunaki were actually humans from the future (even ahead of us) everything would have to have already happened in a way, despite the fact that it hasnt yet.

what a headf*k

you could try bringing back one of these. But whatever you do.... Don't give it to Biff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by kleverone
you could try bringing back one of these. But whatever you do.... Don't give it to Biff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hahahahahaa yeeeesssssss!!

on the deck, if I came to you with a history book that focused on the early part of the 21st century, all you would have to do was look for these events to happen. Sure, I could be psychic and I could have gone to the trouble of having a book printed up, bound, etc to look authentic but no psychic is 100% accurate and they are usually rather vague in their predictions, allowing themselves lots of leeway and room for adjustment to prove they were correct.


the text book, assuming there were events that could come to fruition in the near future would be pretty hard to disprove. Take the titor b.s. as an example. He predicted a specific action to take place in a specific year. It was somewhat rare and off the wall in regards to a prediction. It wasn't like he said "there's a war with Iran in 2007" that would be a fairly easy prediction to make. He declared civil war in the US. Had the event taken place, people, even those that had found their proof to discredit the guy, would have had to taken a step back and rethink their position.

remember the movie back to the future 2? Michael J Fox gets a book detailing the last 50 years worth of sporting events. something like that, which gives you the ability to "predict" every single football, baseball, basketball, hockey etc game for 50 years would be pretty damned solid evidence once the first day of scores were checked.

You said,

get me some physical evidence that will exist exactly like that in the future, with you having no way of manufactering it.

What sort of examples do you have? How would technology that the man on the street wouldn't recognize (or understand the workings of) prove you time traveled?

Scientists could look at it, but would they (and the general population) think that it was a black project gadget?

Would the item be taken away before it could be proven effective and from the future?

This would prove that "someone" was in possession of technology, but who's to say the technology is from the future and not smuggled out of Area 51?

Only a few people would be witnesses of the physical evidence and its operation. Would those few be skeptical of the operation of the device, or think they were being fooled?

The only way to then show that evidence to a larger segment of the population would be via photos or video, which would be "debunked" in many peoples' minds.

Any personal testimony about the object might seem fabricated at the very least, but how would this prove that the person who provided the technology time traveled and didn't just offer up black project technology?

I'm going at these responses as a die hard skeptic would, because that's the only way to find something that will withstand rigorous investigation...

Thank you very much, andy1033!



[edit on 19-1-2007 by OnTheDeck]

Your causality question is excellent!

If someone from the future came to the now and said to bet on something, wouldnt the act of you betting on something that you wouldn't have done normally changed the rest of the future, so that the traveller might not have been able to visit you in the first place?

I you bet on the team you were told by a time traveler would win, you would just win money.

I think I can see where you might be coming from, though...Are you saying that if you were going to bet on the opposite team, but didn't because of the "new" information that you are changing your reality?

I'm not sure what you mean, but simply using information you were giving "could" affect the future, but that's not the question.

It's an interesting point, and we can talk about that later, but I want to get "proof".

Thank you, Frakkerface! Let's keep probing...

OK, let's talk Back to the Future.

The question includes being able to travel to the past, as well as the future.

So, given that, could you go back in time, convince the young Michael J. Fox to hop in the machine with you and introduce him to the older Michael J. Fox?

Would people think this was just a look-alike, or a prank? How would even doing this prove conclusively that you time traveled?

kleverone, thank you for your response! lol Good movie...

the problem with those sports books, is that if someone knew something was going to happen for sure, it can be stopped in sports.

sports people can be stopped, thats why not everything in the future can happen exactly as we thing it may.

futures can be changed, so the sports book would be a bad example.

You said,

if I came to you with a history book that focused on the early part of the 21st century, all you would have to do was look for these events to happen. Sure, I could be psychic and I could have gone to the trouble of having a book printed up, bound, etc to look authentic but no psychic is 100% accurate and they are usually rather vague in their predictions, allowing themselves lots of leeway and room for adjustment to prove they were correct.

How many people would have access to this book before someone in power snuck in and took it?

How many people that had seen the book would feel that it was absolute proof of time travel, and how would that be communicated to the rest of the planet?

Actually, I may be adding to the question unnecessarily by saying that the rest of the planet needs to be convinced. However, what value is proving it to one person?

I'll also ask, if you have a printed item that predicts events and they came to pass would everyone reading this believe that that book was proof that you time traveled?

Would some think that it was a series of predictions that came true? I'm just asking...

You said,

the text book, assuming there were events that could come to fruition in the near future would be pretty hard to disprove.

What sort of events would be predicted? Would it be possible to have multiple interpretations of the events that come to pass?

You mentioned John Titor predicting civil war in the U.S. around 2007. But I've read people interpreting this from both sides - the believers saying a form of civil war has already started.

The non-believers saying no war has erupted. This shows that it's open to interpretation and not conclusive proof he time traveled.

However, what IF civil war erupted? Would people believe Titor was a time traveler, or just that a guy's prediction became true? In other words, does prediction = time traveler?

You also mentioned the Almanac from Back to the Future. Again, people are pretty hard to convince - not only that, this evidence could be snatched up before it was proved real...

How many people would think it was a hoax despite events coming to pass? Would they think psychics were involved? I want to rule out the psychic/predicive possibilites, because it's a loop hole that would discredit our time travel claims...

Stuff to think on...

Thank you again, Crakeur!

[edit on 19-1-2007 by OnTheDeck]

Excellent point!

It IS possible, if someone has information, that the events can be changed. That predictive stuff is not fool proof with regard this and other loopholes mentioned.

The time traveler would have to probably avoid predictions, because so far that's not being shown as absolute proof...

Great point!

So what woud prove to you conclusively that someone time traveled?

Still waiting for iron clad proof. Anything in the world! This is a hard one...

Let me add that the proof should be for large numbers of people, preferably the planet.

[edit on 19-1-2007 by OnTheDeck]

[edit on 19-1-2007 by OnTheDeck]

Well here's another thought: Why would they bother trying to prove it? Fame? Maybe. But that might screw up the future!

I can tell you this, if someone gave me the lotto numbers for every state for say 5 days straight....Well, I'm pretty convinced that he's a time traveler.

Also the lightning strike in BTTF! Telling me to go to a certain spot and witness something like a lightning strike. Maybe a psychic could predict a place within so many miles or a time within so many hours but to predict an exact time and point of impact? Difficult....

Another issue is the time traveler may be coming from another place than earth. Of course that brings up a whole new set of issues.

Titor was very good and there have been few to match his ability to fool the masses.

For me you would proberly have to write me a letter saying excatly what was going to happen in my life for the next week or two. Although I wasn't allowed to open the letter until a said date thus not allowing me to change my decisions depending on what you told me.

You might also have to specify third party actions of that week things that I would not be able to control myself.

Also by the way is this a therotical question or have you time travelled? What going to happen with me and my ex girlfriend tonight at dinner?

Just joking

However I think that someone would always have trouble prooving things like this to masses. there would always be people who would suggest that the video of your proof was faked or the pictures of proof were faked. I think to proove to the masses you would have to go around everyone in the world individually, having a time machine at least you'd have the time.

Good question though!

Alan.