Searching the Internet for evidence of time travelers

[herzmeister]

 
http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.7128 
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6998936 
 

Time travel has captured the public imagination for much of the past century, but little has been done to actually search for time travelers. Here, three implementations of Internet searches for time travelers are described, all seeking a prescient mention of information not previously available. The first search covered prescient content placed on the Internet, highlighted by a comprehensive search for specific terms in tweets on Twitter. The second search examined prescient inquiries submitted to a search engine, highlighted by a comprehensive search for specific search terms submitted to a popular astronomy web site. The third search involved a request for a direct Internet communication, either by email or tweet, pre-dating to the time of the inquiry. Given practical verifiability concerns, only time travelers from the future were investigated. No time travelers were discovered. Although these negative results do not disprove time travel, given the great reach of the Internet, this search is perhaps the most comprehensive to date.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.7128  
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6998936  
  

Time travel has captured the public imagination for much of the past century, but little has been done to actually search for time travelers. Here, three implementations of Internet searches for time travelers are described, all seeking a prescient mention of information not previously available. The first search covered prescient content placed on the Internet, highlighted by a comprehensive search for specific terms in tweets on Twitter. The second search examined prescient inquiries submitted to a search engine, highlighted by a comprehensive search for specific search terms submitted to a popular astronomy web site. The third search involved a request for a direct Internet communication, either by email or tweet, pre-dating to the time of the inquiry. Given practical verifiability concerns, only time travelers from the future were investigated. No time travelers were discovered. Although these negative results do not disprove time travel, given the great reach of the Internet, this search is perhaps the most comprehensive to date.

Exactly what a time traveler would pen to cover their tracks, ergo they exist.

Q.E.D.

[Haidang1796]

I think among the super power, time travelers are the best since they can change everything

[Vod]

I think among the super power, time travelers are the best since they can change everything

Actually, they cannot change anything.

Making a gigantic assumption that time travel is possible (I don't think it is), the instant you arrived in history, the time line would simply "skew" into an alternate reality.  The original timeline would never be changed at all.

[tinus42]

I wish I could go back in time to 5 years ago and tell my younger self about Bitcoin. 

[Sutters Mill]

What really gets me is that, if time travel will one day be invented, it must already be here. lol.

[hvezdasmrti]

Time travelling is possible but only forward. So if you look for time travellers you should visit inferior nations living still in the Stone age or just go to the country, every villager discovering internet is a big time traveller...

[Lucky Cris]

Time travelling is possible but only forward. So if you look for time travellers you should visit inferior nations living still in the Stone age or just go to the country, every villager discovering internet is a big time traveller...

So traveling faster than the speed of light gets us to the future. Question is, how the hell do we get back? lol

[Tishposh]

I wish I could go back in time to 5 years ago and tell my younger self about Bitcoin. 

Amen!

[cybershawrk]

if you flew from the west coast of the united states to the east coast you would travel forwards in time by about 4 hours

[Dabs]

Back to The Future, Part 4: Bitcoin. Marty Mcfly buys a few thousand coins against Doc's advice in the year 2009.