Science

Google Leaks Fake Time-Travel Plans for 'Back to the Future' Day

This isn't just a Google doodle.

by Sean Hutchinson
services.google.com/fh/files/blogs/project_flux.pdf

Yes, even Google is getting in on the Back to the Future Day shenanigans. Usually they’d just throw up a Google doodle of some kind, maybe showing Marty shred through their logo on a hoverboard, but this time they got sneaky. Earlier this morning Google’s official Twitter account tweeted out an innocuous message about 15 new Gmail themes for users to apply to their accounts. But the link attached to the tweet leads to a PDF file labelled “CONFIDENTIAL,” with the warning “DO NOT SHARE OUTSIDE OF GOOGLE.” It seems Google is developing something called “Project Flux.”

The fake PDF outlines their plans to use a design similar to their self-driving cars to create a time machine. According to the slides, which include faux science jargon and terms like “chronocompression,” the company has been developing a time-traveling car prototype to go into production later this month in Dunmurry, N. Ireland (where the original DeLorean factory was located), with public tests to follow.

services.google.com/fh/files/blogs/project_flux.pdf

The whole thing is really well done, mostly because the 16 slides fit as many Back to the Future jokes as they can into each statement. With references to time circuits, Pepsi Free, synchronized watches, used pinball machine parts, and a launch speed of 1.21 x 10^9 watts, it seems like somebody at Google is a huge Back to the Future fan.

http://services.google.com/fh/files/blogs/project_flux.pdf

How many other nods to the time-traveling trilogy can you spot?

services.google.com/fh/files/blogs/project_flux.pdf
Related Tags