| Time Cube | |
| Commercial: | No |
| Type: | Personal web page and conspiracy blog |
| Author: | Otis Eugene "Gene" Ray |
| Current Status: | Inactive |
Time Cube was a pseudoscientific personal web page set up 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. 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.
The website registration expired in August 2015.
The Time Cube website did not have a home page as such.[1]
A large amount of self-invented jargon is used throughout, often never defined. In one paragraph, Ray claimed that his own wisdom "so antiquates known knowledge" that a psychiatrist examining his behavior diagnosed him with schizophrenia.[2]
Adi Robertson of The Verge commented that Ray's theory of time is "an incredibly confusing one peppered with racism and homophobia".
Ray's personal model of reality, called "Time Cube", states that all of modern physics and education is wrong, 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.[2]
The following quotation from the website illustrates the recurring theme:
Ray offered $1,000[3] or $10,000 to anyone who could prove his views wrong.
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.[4] He repeated his $10,000 offer for professors to disprove his notions at the event; none attempted it. John C. Dvorak wrote in PC Magazine that "Metasites that track crackpot sites often say this is the number one nutty site."[5] He also characterized the site's content as "endless blather." 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."[6] Ray also spoke about Time Cube at the Georgia Institute of Technology in April 2005, delivering a speech in which he attacked the instruction offered by academics.[7]
In 2005, Brett Hanover made Above God, a short documentary film about Ray and Time Cube.[8] The film was likely named after one of Ray's websites, which criticized the idea that God exists.[9] Hanover's film won awards for Best Documentary at the Indie Memphis Film Festival and the Atlanta Underground Film Festival.[10] [11]
The song "To the End of the World" on Alestorm's 2017 album No Grave But the Sea makes several references to the Time Cube concept.
The song "Time Cube" on Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives' 2004 album Second & Eighteen contains excerpts from the Time Cube rant.
