Surprising accurate predictions in "The Ultimate Time Machine"

I have been doing my usual skip-reading of Joe McMoneagle's "The Ultimate Time Machine," and I thought I'd list a few of his predictions. The reviews on Amazon.com were largely lukewarm; most reviewers faulted McMoneagle for not predicting the 9/11 attacks, or whatnot. (On the other hand, to my knowledge, none of the commercial psychics did, either.) But he does predict a few other things during this time period which raises some interesting questions.

Here are the ones that I saw that stood out:

A prediction of temporary tattoos in 2005 (158). I mention apparently minor prediction, first, for a reason. The current Wikipedia edit on McMoneagle disparages this prediction ("a 'temporary tattoo' craze that would replace the wearing of clothing"). However, as an editor on the Talk page of this entry correctly points out, this prediction actually came true. If you need a break from my tiresome blog and instead would rather spend an entertaining hour or so researching this, I invite you to do an image search on "bodypaint."

By 2010 a "new drug for improving sexual activity well into the seventies" will be developed. (160) Viagra was introduced shortly after the book was published.

Regarding television, by 2005 a new network using a "new technology that transmits a signal three times higher in quality" will start. (170) This can only be HD channels, which I've read about (I don't watch television).

GPS will be standard in most autos by 2012 (177)


Climate change: Within our present decade, "Summers will begin to get even hotter; as a result, they will become even drier, with little or no rain. Winters will become much wetter, with heavy snows." (182)

"By 2028, the average world temperature will have risen two degrees." (182)

"Water will become a major issue for farmers beginning 2008 to 2014." (182)

"By the year 2006, you will be able to purchase a television/computer screen that can be molded to a wall surface." (240) (Those flat-screen TVs that people go on and on about.)

"A major effort at 'greening' the planet will begin around 2015." (194)

The war in the Middle East, and just why *didn't* McMoneagle predict 9/11?

"There will be three major historical drops in the American market over the next hundred years. One will begin to occur late in the year 2006. The primary reason for this fall will be a war in the Middle East." (188)

"There is a war brewing. Within five years, 1998 to 2003, there will be a second war in Northern Iraq." (232)

"The coming war in the Middle East will add to the problem. Costs will be devastating. By 2010 - 2012, most Western economies will be suffering economically." (180)

The United States will face the possibility that a foreign government will use a biological weapon "inside the United States" (235)

"We can expect to see a long slide in the stock market. . . starting around September of 2001" (179)

These are interesting (and accurate) predictions, which I've presented as a set, for a specific reason. McMoneagle predicts the current Great Recession, linked to the Mid East war, the threat of a WMD attack, pins the date of the beginning of the down-slide in September 2001, all occurring in conjunction to the war in Iraq, but he does not specifically predict the 9/11 attack. To me, this set of predictions is actually more interesting than would be if McMoneagle HAD predicted 9/11.

There are a few reasons why I think McMoneagle did not "foresee" the 9/11 attack.

The first possibility that comes to mind is that, in fact, he did foresee it, but chose not to publish this. I think this possibility is remote, but possible.

Second, he was not allowed to see it. Predicting this event might have altered the future significantly to prevent it. I do believe that some future events might be unalterable. This might have been one of them.

Third, and I think that this is the most intriguing, is that, circa 1997 or prior, the attack on the World Trade Centers had not been "thought of." In other words, it was not a probability at that time, but became a probability later, after the book was published.

Circa 1998, in other words, the firm probability existed that there would be a war in the Middle East, that it would involve Iraq, that it would affect the economy, but the trigger to these series of events had not yet been selected.

I actually think that this is how much of our "future" reality is created. We have the ultimate effect, we have the end goal, the event, but the "causes" of that event have yet to be worked out. As I dreamed once, "Effects create their own causes."

Another interesting aspect of McMoneagle's predictions is that they tend to mirror the political propaganda surrounding 9/11, which deliberately sought to conflate the World Trade Center attacks with the problems involving Iraq. So, another possibility is that McMoneagle was foreseeing, not the actual events, but instead what the mainstream perception of those events would be. To me, this is quite significant... because, after all, what is reality? What it is, or what we, consensually, think that it is?