John Titor and GPS

DadOf5

Member
Messages
292
John Titor and GPS

Timmy G got me to thinking about something. John Titor claimed to have a future GPS reciever with him in his travels. I could almost accept that a GPS system from the future could be backward compatable with today's technology, much the same as USB 2.0 ports are backward compatable with USB 1.1 devices. However, Titor claimed that his "sanctioned mission" was to 1975 and that he decided to go to 1999 for personal reasons based upon his travel to 1975. Thus his time in 1999-2000 was not on his official itinerary.

If he went to 1975 expecting his GPS reciever to work in that era, he would have been completely disappointed. According to this site, http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/content/vie....page.asp?I=464 the first Navstar (GPS) sattelite was not launched until 1978. Here is the relevant excerpt from that site.

The essential components of GPS are the 24 Navstar satellites built by Rockwell International, each the size of a large automobile and weighing some 1,900 pounds. Each satellite orbits the earth every 12 hours in a formation that ensures that every point on the planet will always be in radio contact with at least four satellites. The first operational GPS satellite was launched in 1978, and the system reached full 24-satellite capability in 1993.

Now, here is my question. If John Titor was supposed to travel from 2036 to 1975 and back to 2036, why would he even take a GPS reciever with him? No GPS sattelites were in orbit in 1975. The side trip to 1999-2000 was supposedly unplanned and unsanctioned by his superiors. That would be akin to taking a radio back to the 1700's and expecting to hear Paul Harvey on it.
 

TimeWizardCosmo

Senior Member
Zenith
Messages
2,936
John Titor and GPS

Very good point!

And now you know the rest of the story. Good day!
 

Timmy G

Member
Messages
167
John Titor and GPS

why would he even take a GPS reciever with him?

I personally would like to think that humans will have the ability to travel in time at some point in the future. The Titor story pulled me in, as it did many ppl. Currently, my belief is leaning more towards fiction rather than reality regarding the whole saga. Regardless, it has made thousands of ppl think, created awareness, and is probably already responsible for changing some aspect of our very own future by creating change in the way ppl view our own life ahead of us.

Dad of 5, I never envisioned defending JT in any way - but quite honestly I feel his GPS rec'vr would likely be standard pack equipment. Whenever I go camping, I take an assortment of items - and quite frankly some of them are never used. If I were the creator of the JT saga, I think my reply to your question would be the same; Shotgun - check - GPS rec'vr - check - food stuffs check, shoes with laces - check etc. etc. etc.

The space race, the speed of our technological advancements, meteorites & high-tech catastrophe's, etc. all lead me to believe that any potential equipment from 2036 was based and built upon different standards than the article you presented (excellent find, btw). That would ultimately mean that from 1978 to 2036 (nearly 60 years) nothing changed.... Riiiiight.
 

PamelaM

Active Member
Messages
588
John Titor and GPS

The GPS system on board was probably standard equipment and most likely used incase the system had a problem and needed to "back-out" of destination or even used on the return trip home.
Remember the travelers had missions to other times as well... not just 1975.
Since he didn't go into details on why he had it with him and what it was used for it is simply anyones guess.

John said he was surprised it worked here . Which means he really wasn't expecting it to.
 

XDrFirefly

Member
Messages
164
John Titor and GPS

The internet was around before we all had the chance to use it. The military tries out all the cool stuff before us, the people dont even know it happening. So, maybe if you had a hand help GPS you could use it in that time. Military records would tell you that.

just a thought


Dr ff
 

TheSadGoat

New Member
Messages
13
John Titor and GPS

Just an idea, but don't they have GPS's in cell phones now? Maybe Titor's GPS was just a smaller component of a larger swiss army electronic tool? I mean look at all the stuff cells can do now, I just read that the next phase of phones will include television.
So, maybe John's GPS could have also served as a day planner, calculator, translator, camera, recorder... you never know, just a thought.
 

StarLord

Senior Member
Messages
3,187
John Titor and GPS

I can't see that GPS surviving: a nuclear war before this all started, or the trip here and the other side trips titor claimed he made. Nor do I see the 5100 surviving the trip back twice. There are chips in both of those that are very sensitive to high electro magnetic fields and charges.
 

Grayson

Conspiracy Cafe
Messages
1,117
John Titor and GPS

I have a GPS/SatNav hoojimmybob in my car and it is no bigger than a Sony Walkman/Discman... miniaturisation eh.

As I understand it, Nuclear EMP only affects electronic devices which are switched on and have a volatile memory... whatever that means. I also understand that it is not difficult to shield tech from the effects of an EMP.

I ain't Googled this, so I may be way off base here.

EDIT: Lost my point. It still doesn't take anything away from Dad's post though.
 

Judge Bean

Senior Member
Messages
1,257
John Titor and GPS

Originally posted by DadOf5@Jan 9 2005, 04:20 PM
Timmy G got me to thinking about something. John Titor claimed to have a future GPS reciever with him in his travels. I could almost accept that a GPS system from the future could be backward compatable with today's technology, much the same as USB 2.0 ports are backward compatable with USB 1.1 devices. However, Titor claimed that his \"sanctioned mission\" was to 1975 and that he decided to go to 1999 for personal reasons based upon his travel to 1975. Thus his time in 1999-2000 was not on his official itinerary.

If he went to 1975 expecting his GPS reciever to work in that era, he would have been completely disappointed. According to this site, http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/content/vie....page.asp?I=464 the first Navstar (GPS) sattelite was not launched until 1978. Here is the relevant excerpt from that site.

The essential components of GPS are the 24 Navstar satellites built by Rockwell International, each the size of a large automobile and weighing some 1,900 pounds. Each satellite orbits the earth every 12 hours in a formation that ensures that every point on the planet will always be in radio contact with at least four satellites. The first operational GPS satellite was launched in 1978, and the system reached full 24-satellite capability in 1993.

Now, here is my question. If John Titor was supposed to travel from 2036 to 1975 and back to 2036, why would he even take a GPS reciever with him? No GPS sattelites were in orbit in 1975. The side trip to 1999-2000 was supposedly unplanned and unsanctioned by his superiors. That would be akin to taking a radio back to the 1700's and expecting to hear Paul Harvey on it.


Not exactly unplanned or unsanctioned. He left it somewhat unclear whether it was an "official" part of the mission.

He said that he was surprised to discover that his GPS worked in 2000-01, but not that he was going only to 1975 and back. In fact, he said that going to 1998 was an important part of his mission for some reason, and that he was in 2000 to prepare his family for the coming war, and to "try" to alert us to the "possibility" of both time travel and a coming war. The purpose of his mission is in fact vague and equivocally expressed.

It looks as though he took up to six "trips" through time on this mission, not counting the one or two training runs. The first trip was to 1998 (FAX to Art Bell); the next from 98 to 75 (IBM 5100); then back to 98 (2nd FAX); then to 2000 (Posts until March, 2001); then back to 75 and then finally home to 2036-- this last round needed to go "home," that is, it was necessary to go back to 75 to get home to 36 for some reason.

All that traveling, you might need a GPS; it might serve as a kind of compass.
 

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