What do the timestamps prove, and what do they not?
Michael Darius Eastwood's timestamps establish that particular bytes existed by particular dates: a manuscript signed by its sending server and sealed by Google's servers on 8 December 2024, Bitcoin-anchored receipts that freeze those bytes from 6 August 2026, and a printed book of 2 January 2026. They do not prove authorship, originality or that any claim is true.
Text reviewed 2026-10-31. Any earlier audio edition may differ; the dated text and linked records govern.
The source record carries a visible Gmail origination field of 02:45:18 UTC on 8 December 2024, a file size of 2,157,222 bytes and a whole-file SHA-256 beginning f0d1f38f. Its time is signed by the sending server (DKIM, 02:45:30 UTC) and sealed by Google's servers (ARC seal, 02:45:31 UTC). Both signatures were reproduced against the keys returned at the signed selectors on 2 August 2026, and the ARC selector belongs to Google, not to him. Its headers have been public on OSF since 15 October 2026. The OpenTimestamps receipts in Bitcoin block 961,340 freeze the bytes from 6 August 2026 onward and back-date nothing.
The limits are the record's own. The signed time is the servers' record; it does not prove authorship, originality, public disclosure on that date or scientific validity, and a hash identifies bytes without dating them. A priority claim still needs comparison with earlier work, and a scientific claim still needs argument, measurement and test.
The printed book is the anchor nobody has to trust: Infinite Architects, 468 pages, ISBN 978-1806056200, published on 2 January 2026, which no party can edit after the fact.