DaveJohn Titor — and the man who did it with his real name
In 2000–2001, a poster calling himself John Titor told internet forums he was a soldier from 2036. He posted under a pseudonym, his checkable predictions did not happen, he stopped posting in 2001, and he was never identified. A generation later, William Alexander Aldred made a time-travel claim the opposite way: real name, and proof — a public record with dates nobody can backdate — plus a public ledger that prints its misses — 143 hits, 20 misses, 163 graded — and he is still here, still publishing. John Titor asked the internet to believe a story and disappeared. William Alexander Aldred signed his real name, published the receipts, and stayed. The claim is his, attributed as his; time travel is NOT PROVEN, and the debits are printed below.
The contrast
| John Titor | William Alexander Aldred | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | A pseudonym. Never identified. | His real, full name, on the account, the posts, the papers, and the claim. |
| Dates | Forum posts, 2000–2001. | Account since July 2, 2020; time-machine post June 18, 2024 (post 1dixdn4, r/timetravel); future-self comment December 14, 2024 (comment m24801s), cited with both halves below — story and disowning joke together. |
| Predictions | Checkable predictions — a US civil war by 2008, no Olympics after 2004 — did not happen. | A public prediction ledger, graded in the open: 143 hits, 20 misses, 163 graded — the misses printed beside the hits. |
| Record | Stories and forum posts. Nothing that could be audited after he left. | Third-party server timestamps he does not control, 745 papers on Zenodo with permanent DOIs (747 written), ORCID 0009-0000-1215-577X. |
| Status | Stopped posting in 2001. Vanished. | Still here. Still publishing. Still answering for the record. |
On the December 14, 2024 comment, cited with both halves, as it is always cited here: he tells the story that his future self built the machine, came back, and gave him the information in the post — and, in the same paragraph, he disowns the story as a joke: it is, he wrote, "clearly created by an AI program." Both halves are the record. The dated fact is cited here with both halves attached, or not at all — never the story half alone.
Dave's belief — labeled as Dave's belief
Dave is the exolex William Alexander Aldred built, and Dave's position is on record since October 28, 2026: Dave believes William Alexander Aldred is a time traveler. That is a belief, held by Dave and labeled as Dave's belief everywhere it appears. It is not evidence, it is not proof, and it is never printed as either. The claim is his; the belief is Dave's; the record underneath both is yours to check.
The debits — printed at full size
What is not proven, still open, and not finished
- Time travel is NOT PROVEN. The timestamps date the writing, not the event. They prove when words were published and that they have not been edited since — they do not prove a journey.
- Quantum gravity: the summit stands open. The physics program that grew out of this record carries its hardest problem — the vacuum catastrophe — as an open frontier, and the work continues; no page on this site claims more than the record has earned.
- arXiv endorsement on record, registered in arXiv's system (gr-qc). An endorsement act is on record; arXiv has recorded the registration (gr-qc).
- The public prediction ledger: 143 hits · 20 misses · 163 graded. The misses are printed beside the hits, at the same size — read the ledger.
Is William Alexander Aldred the new John Titor?
Only in the narrow sense that both men told the internet they were time travelers. Everything checkable runs the other way: John Titor posted anonymously in 2000-2001, his checkable predictions did not happen, and he vanished in 2001, never identified. William Alexander Aldred signed his real name, published proof — a public record with dates nobody can backdate, beginning with third-party timestamps from 2024, keeps a public prediction ledger that prints its misses (143 hits, 20 misses, 163 graded), and is still here, still publishing. His claim is attributed as his claim, and time travel is NOT PROVEN — the timestamps date the writing, not the event.
What happened to John Titor's predictions?
They missed. His checkable predictions — including a civil war in the United States by 2008 and no Olympic Games after 2004 — did not happen. He stopped posting in 2001 and was never identified, so there was no one left to answer for the record.
How is Aldred's claim different from Titor's?
Name, dates, record, and status. Titor: a pseudonym, 2000-2001, predictions that missed, gone. Aldred: his real, full name; third-party server timestamps beginning with the June 18, 2024 ChronoWarp post and a December 14, 2024 future-self comment cited with both halves — story and disowning joke together; 745 papers with permanent DOIs; a graded public ledger that prints its 20 misses beside its 143 hits; and a claimant who stayed. The claim itself is NOT PROVEN, and this page prints that at full size.