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Looking for Old Sci Fi story posted here years ago
Me

Posted on 03/02/2026 6:17:10 PM PST by kalee

Does any one remember a post from many years ago that fits this description.

The Setting: A man is in his study/living room at night, reading by lamplight. * The Visitor: A man appears suddenly. He is gaunt, weary, and dressed in strange or rugged clothing. He reveals he is a descendant of the man he is visiting. * The Warning: He describes a total collapse of American civilization. He explains that there is a way to stop it, but it requires a specific, seemingly mundane change in the present. * The Cryptic Ending: In the final moments, the visitor leans in and whispers the actual catalyst of the apocalypse. The protagonist is so profoundly shaken and terrified by what he hears that he cannot—or will not—repeat it to the reader. The story ends with the protagonist sitting in the dark, unable to look at the world the same way.


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Chit/Chat; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: dansimmons; dhimmitude; eurabia; freerepublic; honeypot; mysterious3words; oldpost; scifi; thetimetraveller; timetraveler; vanity

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Does anyone remember this and have a link to the story!
1 posted on 03/02/2026 6:17:10 PM PST by kalee
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To: kalee
I remember it. Could not give you the link to it but you did not imagine it.
2 posted on 03/02/2026 6:21:05 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (The tree accused of killed Sonny Bono was planted.)
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To: kalee
AI search result of your 2nd paragraph….

The Warning" is a piece of, often paleoconservative, internet fiction that gained significant popularity on the Free Republic forum in the mid-2000s. The story depicts a desperate descendant warning a man in his study about a future total societal collapse caused by a specific, yet ultimately unspoken,, modern behavior. You can read more about this, and find the original post, on the Free Republic website.

3 posted on 03/02/2026 6:22:22 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: kalee

Ask Freepers, and then ask AI.

John Henry versus the Steam Drill.

(Try ‘The Man Who Came Early’)


4 posted on 03/02/2026 6:25:44 PM PST by Scrambler Bob (Running Rampant, and not endorsing nonsense; My pronoun is EXIT. And I am generally full of /S)
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To: kalee

I remember it. It was the son or grandson from the future, warning the man of what was happening. And that the war was still raging where they were from. Canada had (implied) had fallen to Islam, as well as Europe.


5 posted on 03/02/2026 6:27:37 PM PST by Tench_Coxe (The woke were surprised by the reaction to the Bud Light fiasco. May there be many more surprises)
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To: hole_n_one

thats just creepy that an AI found that. means some of FR has been used for training data


6 posted on 03/02/2026 6:28:25 PM PST by BigFreakinToad (Ice, Ice Baby)
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To: kalee

Sound like the plot summary to a Saul Bellow novel.


7 posted on 03/02/2026 6:28:54 PM PST by Fai Mao ( )
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To: hole_n_one; kalee

Share it when You Find it !
Perhaps the Mystery will have finally
Been Revealed!


8 posted on 03/02/2026 6:29:16 PM PST by Big Red Badger (Resist Satan's Tyranny )
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To: BigFreakinToad
thats just creepy that an AI found that.

No doubt.

I never used the name of this site in my search terms, yet AI knew that FR was the primary source.

9 posted on 03/02/2026 6:31:57 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: hole_n_one

Did it give a link to the thread??


10 posted on 03/02/2026 6:32:28 PM PST by Jane Long (Jesus is Lord!)
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To: hole_n_one

Now, that IS creepy.

It read your mind, through your fingers 😱


11 posted on 03/02/2026 6:33:13 PM PST by Jane Long (Jesus is Lord!)
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To: hole_n_one

….unless it’s retrieving the data from this current post itself.


12 posted on 03/02/2026 6:34:13 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: kalee

Try this

https://www.irfi.org/articles2/articles_2701_2750/The%20Time%20Traveler.HTM


13 posted on 03/02/2026 6:34:59 PM PST by sloanrb
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To: Jane Long

No link…just cited FR during the mid 2000’s as the primary source.


14 posted on 03/02/2026 6:35:59 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: Jane Long

That’s the last time I scrape under my fingernails— don’t want to lose anything important


15 posted on 03/02/2026 6:36:33 PM PST by sopo
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To: kalee

When you find it, send it to the Creep Cast guys to read.


16 posted on 03/02/2026 6:37:00 PM PST by small farm girl
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To: BigFreakinToad

> means some of FR has been used for training data

You just wake up or something? FR has been in every search engine since forever so of course it is in all the AIs.


17 posted on 03/02/2026 6:37:19 PM PST by dayglored (This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24)
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To: sopo

:-)

AI thanks you.


18 posted on 03/02/2026 6:38:34 PM PST by Jane Long (Jesus is Lord!)
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To: dayglored

I am happy they included FR in their training


19 posted on 03/02/2026 6:39:01 PM PST by algore ( )
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To: kalee

I recall something like that supposedly by Dan Simmons. It was about the encroachment of Islam into the West, if I recall. But it was a loooong time ago so who knows.

FReegards


20 posted on 03/02/2026 6:40:32 PM PST by Ransomed
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