Time Cube

Time Cube was a pseudoscientific personal web page founded in 1997 by the self-proclaimed "wisest man on earth," Otis Eugene "Gene" Ray.[1] It was a self-published outlet for Ray's "theory of everything", also called "Time Cube," which polemically claims that all modern sciences are participating in a worldwide conspiracy to teach lies, by omitting his theory's alleged truth that each day actually consists of four days occurring simultaneously.[2] Alongside these statements, Ray described himself as a "godlike being with superior intelligence who has absolute evidence and proof" for his views. Ray asserted repeatedly and variously that the academic world had not taken Time Cube seriously.[3]

Time Cube
The layout and writing style of the Time Cube website
Type of site
Personal web page and conspiracy blog
Created byOtis Eugene "Gene" Ray
CommercialNo
Launched1997 (1997)
Current statusInactive (since 2016)

Ray died on March 18, 2015, at the age of 87. His website domain names expired in August 2015,[4] and Time Cube was last archived by the Wayback Machine on January 12, 2016 (January 10–14).[5]

Content

Style

The Time Cube website contained no home page.[1] It consisted of a number of web pages that contained a single vertical centre-aligned column of body text in various sizes and colors, resulting in extremely long main pages. Finding any particular passage was almost impossible without manually searching.[2]

A large amount of self-invented jargon is used throughout: some words and phrases are used frequently but never defined, likely terms materially referring to the weakness of widely propagated ideas that Ray detests throughout the text, and are usually capitalized even when used as adjectives. In one paragraph, he claimed that his own wisdom "so antiquates known knowledge" that a psychiatrist examining his behavior diagnosed him with schizophrenia.[6]

Various commentators have asserted that it is futile to analyze the text rationally, interpret meaningful proofs from the text, or test any claims.[1][7]

Time Cube concept
Diagram illustrating an aspect of the Time Cube theory which Ray describes as "LIFE ENCOMPASSES A 4–16 CUBE PRINCIPLE"

Ray's personal model of reality, called "Time Cube", states that all of modern physics and education is wrong,[2] and argues that, among many other things, Greenwich Time is a global conspiracy. He uses various graphs (along with pictures of himself) that purport to show how each day is really four separate days—SUN-UP, MID-DAY, SUN-DOWN, and MID-NIGHT (formerly morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, and evening)—occurring simultaneously.[1][3]

The following quotation from the website illustrates the recurring theme:

When the Sun shines upon Earth, 2 – major Time points are created on opposite sides of Earth – known as Midday and Midnight. Where the 2 major Time forces join, synergy creates 2 new minor Time points we recognize as Sunup and Sundown. The 4-equidistant time points can be considered as Time Square imprinted upon the circle of Earth. In a single rotation of the Earth sphere, each Time corner point rotates through the other 3-corner Time points, thus creating 16 corners, 96 hours and 4-simultaneous 24-hour Days within a single rotation of Earth – equated to a Higher Order of Life Time Cube.

Ray offered $1,000[8] or $10,000[3] to anyone who could prove his views wrong. Mike Hartwell of The Maine Campus wrote that any attempt to claim the prize would require convincing Ray that his theory was invalid. The proof would need to be framed in terms of his own model, thus deviating from any form of modern science. "Even if you could pull that off," Hartwell said, "Ray is probably broke."[1]

Reception

Ray spoke about Time Cube at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January 2002 as part of a student-organized extra-curricular event during the independent activities period.[9] He repeated his $10,000 offer for professors to disprove his notions at the event; none attempted it.[3] John C. Dvorak wrote in PC Magazine that "Metasites that track crackpot sites often say this is the number one nutty site."[2] He also characterized the site's content as "endless blather."[2] When asked by Martin Sargent in 2003 how it felt to be an Internet celebrity, Ray stated that it was not a position he wanted, but something he felt he had to do as "no writer or speaker understands the Time Cube."[7] Ray also spoke about Time Cube at the Georgia Institute of Technology in April 2005, in a speech in which he attacked the instruction offered by academics.[10]

A 2004 editorial in University of Maine student newspaper The Maine Campus remarked upon what it called the site's "subtle little racist ideologies" which culminate in Ray describing racial integration as "destroying all of the races."[1]

In 2005, Brett Hanover made Above God, a short documentary film about Ray and Time Cube.[11] The film was likely named after one of Ray's websites, which criticized the idea that God exists.[12] Hanover's film won awards for Best Documentary at the Indie Memphis Film Festival and the Atlanta Underground Film Festival.[13][14]

References
  1. Hartwell, Mark (September 24, 2004). "Timecube.com: Where reality as we know it is a lie". The Maine Campus. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  2. Dvorak, John C. (December 22, 2003). "Don't Call Them Crackpots". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on December 24, 2003. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  3. Duffy, Kate (September 19, 2002). "Truth Is Cubic?". The Phoenix. Swarthmore, Pennsylvania: Swarthmore College. Archived from the original on December 20, 2002. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  4. Robertson, Adi (September 2, 2015). "Time Cube Is Gone". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  5. "Timecube". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20080709075217/http://www.timecube.com/, "My wisdom so antiquates known knowledge, that a psychiatrist examining my behavior, eccentric by his academic single corner knowledge, knows no course other than to judge me schizoprenic."
  7. Unscrewed with Martin Sargent. Season 1. Episode 15. June 18, 2003. TechTV. Sargent: Gene, how do you feel about being an Internet celebrity? I mean, you're huge on the web. Ray: Well, it's not a position I wanted, it's something I had to do. I'm not a writer or speaker, but no writer or speaker understands the Time Cube.
  8. "Timecube.com Picture". Archived from the original on August 18, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. "IAP 2002 Activity: Time Cube Lecture / Debate". Retrieved April 5, 2007.
  10. Cuneo, Joshua (April 22, 2005). "Oddball Time Cube theorist piques interest, elicits mixed response" (PDF). The Technique. Georgia Institute of Technology. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  11. "VIDEO – Brett Hanover". www.bretthanover.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  12. "Above God". Archived from the original on November 9, 2014.
  13. Harrington, Chris. (October 28, 2005). "Act One among the big winners at Indie Memphis". Memphis Flyer. Contemporary Media Inc. Archived from the original. on July 30, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  14. Finger, Michael. (April 18, 2008). "Memphians Premiere New Film at Nashville Film Festival". Memphis Flyer. Contemporary Media Inc. Archived July 29, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
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