Monday, June 4, 2018

Your WTAF? Story of the Day

Where "A" stands for actual.

Thanks to a link at WUWT, we find a Daily Mail story that a man who claims to be a time traveler from the year 6491 and who is trapped here in 2018 passed a lie detector test about his story.
A time traveller who believes he is from the year 6491 but got stuck in 2018 when his time machine broke down, has allegedly passed a lie detector test.

James Oliver's story was doubted but paranormal experts say they were blown away when they put it to the test, because the results showed he was telling the truth.

Mr Oliver claims he lives more than centuries in the future but was sent back in time.

Paranormal YouTube site ApexTV carried out an experiment, which had bizarre results.

Mr Oliver passed every question.
Why is he trapped here?  Simple!  His time machine is broken.  Unlike the plot of Back the Future in which Marty McFly gets stuck in the past because he needs "1.21 Gigawatts" for the Delorean to take him through time.  Other than that, the plot is kinda similar.  Then why, oh why is this "strange visitor from another planet time" here?  Why to tell us about the global warming and one world government, of course!
According to Mr Oliver global warming is going to get worse and our planet is going to get hotter. He also says there is a United Nations style system of planetary leaders to ensure peace.
The piece is so absurd it's funny.  To their credit, the Mail doesn't give much credibility to the story, and reports the absurdities with a straight face.  You get such gems as:
'Where I'm from, the years are longer.
...
'But we have gifted mathematicians who work to calculate our years from those from other civilisations.'
Oh...Kay... But I think that's simple multiplication, not advanced math.  Maybe in 6491 the ability to use a four function calculator requires "gifted mathematicians".
Although the man has a Birmingham accent, with a US twang, he claims he is from outer space.
...
Describing life lightyears from now, he says more species and planets are discovered – and that there are fights coming between humans and aliens.
Of course, "light years from now" is incorrect.  Light years are a measure of distance, not time, so it either means years from now light years from here.   

The important part, and I'll bet a lot of you have said this already: a "lie detector" does nothing of the sort.  It detects stress and discomfort of the participant.  If he showed no such reaction, it didn't "prove he told the truth", it means either (1) he honestly believes what he's saying and feels no stress, or (2) he has experience with, and possibly training for, taking polygraph tests.  There are places where one can get trained to pass polygraph tests.   Decorum says I should leave it there.

Anybody else notice the year 6491 is 1946 spelled backwards?  Just a coincidence, I'm sure.  Both the ApexTV guy and James Oliver look too young to know anything about 1946. 


From the Daily Mail, but the photo is clearly labeled copyright YouTube/ApexTV.  The 17 minute video is here


8 comments:

  1. Lie Detectors work well on normal people.

    Not so well on sociopaths or people mental enough to actually believe their reality.

    Which is why lie detectors are not admissible in Court as evidence.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is why polygraphy is scientifically about as valid and well-regarded as phrenology.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "It's not a lie if you believe it, Jerry."
    ~George Costanza

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's odd, but the UK's become obsessed with time travelers lately. They're typically from the near future, 2030 for example. Curious.

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  5. Faith (belief contrary to evidence), and it's particular examples government, liberalism, AGW, etc. are a mental illness. Self-loathing, and it's particular examples the human extinction movement, is another mental illness often found with it.

    Computer viruses are an infectious agent which, while not meeting enough of the definition to qualify as alive, still have many similarities to bacteria and protein viruses. Likewise, faith and self-loathing are computer viruses for human brains, which are transmitted through human culture (spoken and written language, visual storytelling).

    Many/most human beings in former first world societies once had the diseases tuberculosis, syphilis, polio. It is not unusual to have many/most of the humans sick with something. Today, most human beings are sick with mental illnesses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Faith is not "belief contrary to evidence".
      Apparently lacking recourse to any standard dictionary, you have simply and lazily conflated the word "faith" with the meaning of "delusion".

      Which is not terribly clever.

      Delete
    2. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/faith

      1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

      2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

      3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

      What do you believe the word means?

      Delete
  6. In a kinder gentler age his wackjobwoul be locked away for hos and our safety.....not feted and listened to.

    ReplyDelete