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SINCE SOME OF YOU HAVE A DEEP NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT JOHN TITOR, HERE'S YOUR THREAD. ADD ON AS YOU FIND ARTICLES AND COMMENT AT WILL!

John Titor: The Cyberworld Connection

John Titor’s bizarre time travel story, whether you believe it or not, has entered into our popular culture. It’s been discussed on message boards, shared on lazily-updated paranormal websites, and has even appeared in the popular anime and interactive novel Steins;Gate.
But did you know there’s actually an old role-playing game that some believe Titor – assuming he was an elaborate hoax – used for inspiration?
GURPS Cyberworld

GURPS stands for Generic Universal Roleplaying System. Published by Steve Jackson Games in 1986, it’s essentially a kind of role-playing framework or “source engine.”
In contrast to something like Dungeons & Dragons, which was completely self-contained within a rigidly-defined setting, GURPs was a system used for a number of different game settings and campaigns.
Cyberworld is one of those campaigns, and as I understand, it piggybacks off another called GURPS Cyberpunk. This is relevant because it’s setting is very similar to the world of 2036 that John Titor described in his posts back in 2000-2001.
But here’s the thing: Cyberworld was published way back in 1993.

By Rob Schwarz on May 13, 2016 // Time Travel // 1 Comment
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Image: Steve Johnson/Flickr via CC by 2.0
John Titor’s bizarre time travel story, whether you believe it or not, has entered into our popular culture. It’s been discussed on message boards, shared on lazily-updated paranormal websites, and has even appeared in the popular anime and interactive novel Steins;Gate.
But did you know there’s actually an old role-playing game that some believe Titor – assuming he was an elaborate hoax – used for inspiration?
GURPS Cyberworld

GURPS stands for Generic Universal Roleplaying System. Published by Steve Jackson Games in 1986, it’s essentially a kind of role-playing framework or “source engine.”
In contrast to something like Dungeons & Dragons, which was completely self-contained within a rigidly-defined setting, GURPs was a system used for a number of different game settings and campaigns.
Cyberworld is one of those campaigns, and as I understand, it piggybacks off another called GURPS Cyberpunk. This is relevant because it’s setting is very similar to the world of 2036 that John Titor described in his posts back in 2000-2001.
But here’s the thing: Cyberworld was published way back in 1993.
Twisted Timelines

While Cyberworld has its own setting, the one we’re interested in was actually posted to a website called Spearweasel Online in the early 90s, where a fan tweaked the setting to be more to his liking. As Spearweasel stated in 2004:
“I wrote this timeline in the early 1990’s to provide a simple back-story for games involving near-future intrigue and action…I enjoyed [Cyberworld] so much that I adapted large portions of it…” – Spearweasel Online​
So what was in this “timeline” that rang so familiar to people researching the John Titor story – to the point that Spearweasel Online found itself inundated with emails asking about the similarities?
Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before.

To touch on the major points, the original Cyberworld, written by Paul Hume, takes you on a journey into the “One-and-Twenty” – the 21st Century, the year 2043. The United States is under the control of the Provisional Government, a police state where technology may be high, but quality of life is at an all-time low.
The Cyberworld book walks you through this timeline of unfortunate events – a plague in 1997, a world market crash in 2006, a “non-election” in 2008. The police state slowly begins to cast its shadow in 2010, and gains full control by 2020. In other words, your character begins in more or less your usual post-apocalypse.
Things get interesting, however, when you look at Spearweasel’s version of Cyberworld. I’ll give you a very brief summary here, but you can read the entire setting outline at this archive (unfortunately, the live page doesn’t seem to exist, anymore).

Spearweasel’s Alternate Timeline

  • 1999 – Terrorists seize a TWA 747 and crash it into Capitol Hill, murdering the President, a chunk of Congress, and “over 1500 civilians.” The Vice President takes over until the 2000 election, after which the Provisional Government comes into power. Civil liberties begin to weaken as the government overreaches.
  • 2004 – Resentment festers until it hits a peak in 2004, as “militia movements” begin to rise and challenge the Provisional Government. Chaos ensues. Martial law is declared, and the U.S. Constitution is suspended.
  • 2005 – A new United States Civil War effectively begins in Idaho and Oregon, leading to the deaths of 2,000,000 U.S. Citizens.
  • 2015 – The Second Civil War ends in 2007, and a new Reconstruction begins. This doesn’t last, as the Cold War heats up with a “Russo-Japanese Coalition.” The United States finds itself on China’s side. In 2014, Russia and Japan launch a “single massive attack,” hitting China, Alaska, and Europe with “small atomic weapons.” This leads to retaliation, and the Third, and presumably very short, World War begins.
Prescience

Sound familiar? It’s not an exact match, but the dates in the Cyberworld timeline above do match the major ones in Titor’s story: A civil war in 2005, a world war in 2015. Throw a tyrannical government, some local militias, a few outbreaks and nuclear war into the mix and I can see why people began to wonder.
Is it possible John Titor was just playing the ultimate RPG?
 
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John Titor: The Final Post



By Rob Schwarz on March 23, 2016 // Time Travel // 3 Comments
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Image: Flickr/Nico Caramella via CC by 2.0
Would you believe it? Fifteen years ago, on March 24, 2001, the individual posting as John Titor left his final message on the Post2Post Art Bell forum, leaving behind a timeless mystery, and one of my favorite urban legends of the information age.
Along with many, many questions.
Who was John Titor? Was he a real time traveler? A hoaxer? Something else? Would this “time traveler” ever return to our worldline, or would this “hoaxer” fess up to the charade? Fifteen years later, and despite many proclamations that he was undoubtedly a hoax, I’d like to think we’ll never know for certain.
03-24-2001 06:19 PM

John Titor posted many times from November 2, 2000 until March 24, 2001, when he left his final message. It contained some goodbyes, some more questions answered, along with an explanation of why, if time travel is possible, there aren’t time travelers everywhere — all the time.
Here is an excerpt from that final post.
———​
Posted By John Titor
Post Date: March 24, 2001
I will be leaving this worldline shortly and this will be my final post. There are only a handful of people who will know exactly when I will be leaving and I’m sure they will let you know when I’m gone.
In the last few days I have found your choice of topics quite interesting and from an objective viewpoint I think it collectively answers one of your own questions, “If time travel is real, where are all the time travelers?” In the past, I have stated that quite frankly, you all scare the Hell out of me and I’m sure other temporal drivers would feel the same. But now I have an expanded explanation with two examples.
A while ago (on one of the posts), I related an experience I had with my parents while we were driving down a highway. Every now and then, we would pass someone who was in obvious distress with their vehicle. I was amazed that so many people could pass them by without stopping to help. Their explanation was fear. The risk of helping someone was too great and with today’s technology, they probably had a cell phone anyway. If they didn’t, the walk to a gas station would be good for them and teach them a lesson for running out of gas.
The other example is the plight of the homeless. When you pass them as individuals on the street I see the way people selectively choose an alternate path to avoid them.


Those two examples best define why time travelers do not show themselves. In trying to help you, we put ourselves as great risk and there’s really no point to it. We know the nature of time dictates that traveling between “exact” worldlines is impossible. Therefore, the only results we will see will be the ones we stay to see. Since worldlines, outcomes and events are infinite, we have better things to do. When I arrive in the “new” 1998 worldline on my way home I could easily start all of this again and continue to go through the same conversations with all of the same people. However, I already know you won’t pay any attention or believe me because we’ve already been through it on this worldline. Besides, I think the walk to the gas station will do you some good.

More at site
 
Has John Titor's World War 3 Already Begun?

There’s been a lot of talk about World War 3 lately. After the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris this month, Pope Francis declared that we are now in the middle of a “piecemeal” world war. King Abdullah of Jordan shared a similar opinion, stating that “we are facing a third world war against humanity.” One that will bring us all together.
These cries of a new world war may seem hyperbolic, but I’m far more interested in the fact that we’re even having this conversation at this particular moment in time. Not to mention that Russia is now, by all indications, playing a far greater role in this worldwide fight against the terror of ISIS.
“…the war in the Middle East is a part of what’s to come, not the cause.” – December 13, 2000

Fifteen years ago, John Titor said the following: “A world war in 2015 killed nearly 3 billion people.” On his timeline, it was a nuclear war, with Russia striking the major cities of the United States, China, and Europe.
On this worldline, thankfully, we’re nowhere near that series of events. And with only 38 days left in the year, it’s unlikely we’ll see anything like Titor’s apocalyptic war. Not yet.
But just as with Titor’s proclamations of growing civil unrest, a destabilized western society, and a United States president who would be likened to Abraham Lincoln, I can’t help but keep noticing these little glimpses of the world John Titor described in his original posts.
Echoes of a world that could have been, or may still happen. If only things were just slightly different…

2.5% Divergence

I’ve always made it a point when discussing John Titor’s “predictions” to mention the 2.5% worldline divergence. As Titor said, the farther he traveled through time, the more worldlines would diverge. They would be different.
“If I go forward on this worldline, the future will not be my future. I get home by going back to 1975 before I arrived and then going forward to 2036.
Your deductions are quite accurate. Its possible to go forward to ‘your’ 2036 and it would look nothing like mine.”​
But Titor also said something else regarding this divergence:
“Some things that are quite different on one worldline have very little effect as time passes and the worldlines appear to ‘converge’ again and look very similar. Worldline changes are not exponential; they act more like chaotic attractors with varying effect depending on their size and location.”​
The paths and the dates may change, but there’s a possibility that the destination will remain the same.
I don’t know if any of this means anything. I’m still not convinced that John Titor was an actual time traveler. Perhaps he simply knew something, or was very prescient. But he said a world war would occur in 2015 — and now some are claiming, right on cue, that World War 3 has already begun.

It’s strange how these things happen.
 
John Titor: 15 Years Later

I remember when I first learned about John Titor. I’d just finished watching the movie Somewhere In Time – I’d never seen it before – and found it so haunting that I immediately jumped on the Internet. I just wanted to see. To know. Could anyone ever really travel through time? Was it possible?
Of course, I’d thought about time travel before then. Back to the Future was and is one of my favorite movies. But there was something about Somewhere In Time that felt real to me. Possible, even. I think Richard Matheson’s work has that effect.
What I found that night were the forum posts by John Titor. I don’t remember where I started. Maybe archives of Art Bell’s Post2Post forum. I spent a lot of time reading message boards, and visiting Anomalies.net, and searching for clues. This was around 2003-2004, so the events were still somewhat fresh, and the important dates – 2005, 2015 – were still in the future.
johntitor_schematic.jpg


I’m not sure if I’ve ever truly believed he was a time traveler, but I think I’ve said this before – it doesn’t really matter. If he was, given the possibility of Many Worlds and worldline divergence, there’s no way we’d ever know. Our future is not his, and was never going to be. And if he wasn’t a time traveler, then at the very least Titor’s story has provided countless hours of entertainment.
Tempus Edax Rerum

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John Titor’s Insignia
So where does that leave us, now? I don’t know, really. Fifteen years on and we still don’t know who John Titor was, hoax or not. But I thought it was appropriate to at least acknowledge this strange anniversary.
If you’d like to read Titor’s original posts, Anomalies.net has them available on their website (here’s another version with better formatting).
Also be sure to check out my own archive of John Titor articles. Here are a few highlights from over the years:

 
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This is madman's diagram from FB for his machine he put together.
 
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A Look At John Titor’s Most Popular Predictions

John Titor’s story was painted in the dulcet, midnight colors of Coast to Coast AM, driven by a community’s desire to believe, if just for a moment, that time travel was possible.
Over the years, the mythology became mired, polluted by impostors and opportunists. The story of the story took center stage, outshining what we originally found so compelling.
But how has John Titor himself, as we knew him then, fared?
Let’s find out. Let’s look at his most well known predictions, the ones that make your hair stand on end, or cause you to laugh at their outrageousness. In no particular order.
But remember: We shouldn’t call them “predictions.” They’re statements of “fact” from the point of view of a time traveler.
Reflections of an individual’s past that were never guaranteed to become our future.

A review of the top predictions at site
 
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