"Who Authored the John Titor Legend" & "All the Ghosts that Haunt" by Mike Sauve (Thoughts)
A Stunning Model of Language in a World of Large Language Models
Who Authored the John Titor Legend
The John Titor has always fascinated me, but it wasn’t until I read Mike’s book that I found a rigorous investigation that felt to strike the right balance between skepticism and openness. Mike never closes the door on “Scenario 4,” but he at the same time crafts a beautifully written story that could be a Satoshi Kon film if the great director was still with us. The book also has the style of the early internet, which situated it well in its content and material.
‘The Internet was a much different place in 2001,’ Mike tells us, and, ‘simply put, [there were] less cranks and role players’ (pg 9). So when a man showed up named John Titor claiming to be from the future, it raised some eyebrows. ‘If John Titor was not a time traveller, then he had access to a broad range of rarified information spanning several fields of study, knew a great deal about contemporary physics and CERN, and possessed a writer’s ability to craft a compelling narrative’ (15). ‘John also foresaw many technological changes that would have been difficult to predict in 2001 […]’ (17). He seems to have predicted an unpublished poem; he describes technologies that came to exist. Was John for real? Surely he was created, yes? If so, he was an incredible creation, and Mike launches into an investigation of the different “suspects” who could be responsible for the Titor Legend. But why? Was it all just for ‘a good yarn’ (43)? A laugh? At one point, Mike is told, ‘I hope you find what you’re looking for […] I hope you find what you’re looking for was worth the effort’ (65). Indeed, so perhaps we might all hope to say the same of the lives we live…
Mike Sauve is a gifted writer, and this book was a joy to read on a Legend that has always fascinated me but great resources on seemed elusive. Mike Sauve has done us all a service. Pick up a copy today.
All the Ghosts that Haunt
‘Rescind, / temporeality, / tell the haunting years / how ghosts live on in arrearview mirrors’ (11) –Mike Sauve knows that language is not simply about communicating information: to split “words” and “meanings” is a mistake, for we live in a world of both, ever-intrinsically weaved. And what is weaved is not reducible to its parts: “arrearview mirrors” is not equivalent to removing spaces between “(a) rear view mirror(s)”; in fact, the “s” after “mirror” suggests that we are dealing with a means of reflection that unifies that many into one and the one into many. Many things become single things in mirrors, a single haunting that is yet legion.
‘Lacking a Global Plan, The Large Language model splurges’ (12)—I’m taken by simply the sounds of the sentences, which is especially noteworthy of praise and preservation in a world of silent ChaptGPT. (Will we soon forget a world in which words on pages can shake with noise? Perhaps.) We should also note the insight that is to be found in Mike Sauve’s prose; take: ‘Understanding factually, if not / conceptually, how teleology is / also the causality resulting in all / things being knotted together, / the echolalic LLM is always / asking of itself […]’ (13). Brilliant, to note that teleology arises from “a knotting together of all things,” which is something LLMs arguably now make possible. Some say God doesn’t exist until we invent him; similarly, have we now invented teleology? Have we made Aristotle and Aquinas proud? I don’t know, but these are the kind of questions I find myself asking as I read Sauve—a sign of great prose.
“The Missing and Murdered Sphere,” a poem, brought to mind 2666, a wonderful novel, and I thought this poem particularly captured our current moment in history where we are before a beautiful scene yet on our screen studying horror. Such a mixture of elements was not possible until today. We have been empowered. Yes? ‘[B]etter than nothing / here in this missing / and murdered sphere’ (29). We’ve considered the alternative ‘a bit,’ haven’t we (29)? Doesn’t that say something? ‘I thought to wear a festive shirt,’ at least (30)…
Sauve is also aware of the expectations of the reader in his sentences, a sign of skill. Take this example: ‘bussing to the darkest Dollar Stares / where wound-care supplies / were said to be half-prized’ (33). We’d expect the last word to be “half-priced,” but that’s exactly what Sauve wants us to think before surprising us with a different notion, “half-prized.” This is sadder. This is truer.
‘Time learns The Lessons of History without / reading 11226311.112263…words imputing / banal motivations […]’ (68) – another beautiful line and insight, the likes of which the whole collection is filled. Sauve has given us poetry that makes language feel new and full of potential waiting to be realized and employed. Sauve is modeling that effort, and it’s a joy to behold and read.
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For more by
(Mike Sauve), please visit his website today, and also his Substack:
Can't even begin to express my gratitude! What a lovely consideration of my work. I'll be in touch shortly.