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{{Short description|Computer program that is supposedly clairvoyant}}

'''Web Bot''', or the '''Web Bot Project''', refers to a software program designed in the late 1990's, originally to predict stock market trends, but was later claimed to be able to predict future events by tracking keywords entered on the Internet.<ref name="telegraph">[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6227357/Web-bot-project-makes-prophecy-of-2012-apocalypse.html]</ref> The creator of the Web Bot keeps the technology and algorithms largely secret and sells the predictions on his website, [http://www.halfpasthuman.com/ halfpasthuman.com].

{{about|the prediction software|internet-based programs|Internet bot}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

'''Web Bot''' is an [[internet bot]] computer program whose developers claim is able to predict future events by tracking keywords entered on the internet. It was developed in 1997, originally to predict trends of companies' [[Share capital|shares]] publicly listed.<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6227357/Web-bot-project-makes-prophecy-of-2012-apocalypse.html|title='Web-bot project' makes prophecy of 2012 apocalypse|last=Chivers|first=Tom|date=24 September 2009|work=The Daily Telegraph |___location=London |access-date=4 October 2009 }}</ref> The creator of the Web Bot Project, Clif High, along with his associate George Ure, keep the technology and [[algorithm]]s largely secret and sell the predictions via the website.

==Methodology==

[[Internet bots]] monitor news articles, blogs, forums, and other forms of Internet chatter. Words in the lexicon are assigned numeric values for emotional quantifiers such as duration, impact, immediacy, intensity, and others. The lexicon is dynamic, and changes according to shifts in emotional tension, and how humans communicate those changes using the Internet. As of 2008, there were about 300,000 keywords in the lexicon, along with emotional context,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/HealthAndSci-Tech/InternetAndTechnology/Article.aspx?id=125783|title=Digital World: I have seen the future, and it's on the Web|last=Shamah|first=David|date=23 December 2008|work=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|access-date=4 October 2009}}</ref> which are fed into a computer-generated modelspace.

The Web Bot works by searching the internet for keywords which are used often and then records the preceding and following words to create a "snapshot". Through this, the technology is claimed to be able to examine the [[collective unconscious]] of the world as a whole. It is thus said to be able to predict catastrophic events 60 to 90 days in advance.

The operators of Web Bot interpret the bot's results and make a report called the "ALTA report" available on their website to paying subscribers. ALTA stands for "asymmetric language trend analysis".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.halfpasthuman.com/altaprocess.html |title=ALTA Process |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=8 May 2011 |website=Half Past Human: Adventures in Future Viewing |access-date=10 April 2016 }}</ref> Many believe the predictions are [[pseudoscientific]] and too vague to be meaningful.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycommonsense.com/web-bot-what-is-it-can-it-predict-stuff/ |title=Web Bot, What is it? Can it Predict Stuff? |publisher=Daily Common Sense |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012193312/http://www.dailycommonsense.com/web-bot-what-is-it-can-it-predict-stuff/ |archive-date=12 October 2009 }}</ref> Despite this, the creators have made many claims [[Postdiction|after the fact]] that their reports have predicted important events.

==Predictions==

Listed are some of the events which the Web Bot is claimed to have predicted prior to them occurring<ref>[http://aphroditeastrology.com/2007/05/web-bot-predictions.html]</ref><ref>[http://urbansurvival.com/index.htm]</ref>:

*[[September 11 attacks]] - In June 2001 Web Bot predicted that a catastrophic event would occur within the next 60-90 days.

*[[Northeast Blackout of 2003]] - The Web Bot reportedly predicted the power outage in the Northeastern United States in 2003 accurately before it occurred.<ref>[http://urbansurvival.com/simplebots.htm]</ref>

*[[American Airlines Flight 587]]

*[[Space Shuttle Columbia disaster]]

*[[Dick Cheney hunting incident]]

*[[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake]]<ref>[http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-118770.html]</ref>

===Claimed hits===

Events which were predicted but did not occur:

*[[Northeast Blackout of 2003]]<ref name=torontostar>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/414923|title=Decoding the End of Days|work=Toronto Star|access-date=25 October 2009 | first=Vinay | last=Menon | date=16 April 2008}}</ref>

*October 7, 2008 - Web Bot predicted that between September 22 and September 27, 2008, precursor events would lead up to a "main turning point date" on October 7, 2008 which would be more significant than the September 11 terrorist attacks and then major emotional turmoil would continue for nearly five months.<ref>[http://www.december212012.com/articles/news/Web_Bot_Predictions_for_2008_2009.htm]</ref>

*[[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake]]<ref name=torontostar/><ref name=newkerala>{{cite web|url=http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-118770.html |title=World's expiry date: 21 December 2012? |publisher=NewKerala.com |access-date=3 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928052351/http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-118770.html |archive-date=28 September 2009 }}</ref>

*[[Hurricane Katrina]] and its devastation<ref name=torontostar/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethiopianreview.com/scitech/12308 |title='Web-bot project' makes prophecy of 2012 apocalypse |publisher=Ethiopian Review |access-date=4 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119080609/http://www.ethiopianreview.com/scitech/12308 |archive-date=19 November 2009 }}</ref>

===Misses===

Future events which have been predicted will occur:

* The Web Bot gained most of its notoriety for contributing to the [[2012 phenomenon]] by predicting a cataclysm that would devastate the planet on 21 December 2012, possibly a reversing of [[Earth's magnetic field|Earth's magnetic poles]] or a small series of nuclear attacks leading up to a major attack during the year. The prediction did not call for a complete end of the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Worlds-expiry-date-21-December-2012/521526/ |title=World's expiry date: 21 December 2012? |publisher=ExpressIndia |access-date=3 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329041221/http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Worlds-expiry-date-21-December-2012/521526/ |archive-date=29 March 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eldia.com.ar/edis/20080427/revistadomingo15.htm|title=El Nostradamus virtual (in Spanish)|publisher=[[El Día (La Plata)|El Día]]|access-date=25 October 2009}}</ref>

*October 25, 2009 - A catastrophe starts on October 25, 2009. It could be that the [[2009 flu pandemic|H1N1 flu virus]] reaches a level of extreme lethality, or [[Israel]] bombs [[Iran]]. In reaction to this crisis, the [[Obama]] administration will be thrown into major chaos ten days later.<ref>[http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2009/07/21]</ref>

* Web Bot predicted that a massive earthquake would occur in December 2008 in [[Vancouver]], British Columbia, Canada and the [[Pacific Northwest]], but no such event happened.<ref name=taylor>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article651047.ece |title=Vanwaterworld? Hold the Armageddon talk |last=Taylor |first=Timothy |date=January 2009 |work=The Globe and Mail |___location=Canada |access-date=4 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329060911/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article651047.ece |archive-date=29 March 2010 }}</ref>

*[[2012 phenomenon|End of the World in 2012]]: The Web Bot has reportedly predicted that the world will end in the year 2012<ref>[http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Worlds-expiry-date-21-December-2012/521526/]</ref><ref name="telegraph"></ref>

* A prediction that the US dollar would completely collapse in 2011, and that [[Israel]] would bomb [[Iran]], with the administration of U.S. President [[Barack Obama]] being thrown into major chaos.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://seekingalpha.com/article/167241-the-market-s-current-psychological-map|title=The Market's Current Psychological Map|date=19 October 2009 |publisher=[[Seeking Alpha]]|access-date=25 October 2009}}</ref>

==In mediaReception==

The [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] has discussed Web Bot in its special "Doomsday 2012: The End of Days" on [[NostradamusDecoding Effectthe Past#Season 3|season 3 of Decoding The Past]] and on other shows featuringthat feature predictions about the end of the world, such as the ''[[Nostradamus Effect]]''.<ref>[{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=396904] |title=History TV Shows |publisher=History.com |access-date=4 January 2012}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=August 2015|reason=Doomsday 2012 isn't listed anymore. Probably not on the network anymore.}} A ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' journalist noted that:

{{blockquote|What interests me more than the bot's accuracy (of which I'm skeptical), is the relentless negativity of its projections. According to the bot, the future is always bleak and steadily worsening.<ref name=taylor/>}}

Tom Chivers in the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' notes three criticisms of the project:

{{blockquote|...the internet might plausibly reveal group knowledge about the stock market or, conceivably, terror attacks [but] it would be no more capable of predicting a natural disaster than would a Google search,{{nbsp}}... the predictions are so vague as to be meaningless, [and] the prophecies become self-distorting.<ref name=telegraph/>}}

==See also==

*[[Global Consciousness Project]]

*[[Google Flu Trends]]

*[[Google Trends]]

*[[Predictive analytics]]

==References==

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:20121997 millenarianismsoftware]]

[[Category:Prediction]]

[[Category:ProphecyPseudoscience]]

[[Category:EschatologyWeb crawlers]]

[[Category:2012|Doomsday predictionphenomenon]]

[[Category:2012 millenarianism]]