Thursday, February 22, 2007

The Vacuum Energy LOST Theory

The strange happenings of the television show LOST are creating a lot of fan speculation about what is really going on. So here is a compendium of my thoughts on the subject. Minor updates will go into comments while major updates will spawn a new post.

In the beginning

Geological Prehistory
The "island" and its smaller companion form in the South Pacific. The island, due to its "geologically unique" magnetic properties, is a place with an unusually strong connection between magnetism, consciousness, and the nature of reality.

Evolutionary Prehistory
The human species evolves consciousness and intelligence. The interaction between human consciousness and the nature of reality is extremely weak and entirely subconscious, thus requiring 20th century scientific techniques to investigate. The "Monster" evolves consciousness and intelligence but remains dependent upon the island's unique magnetic properties for its survival.

Cultural Prehistory
Polynesian migrants discover the island and the monster. The statue is transported to the island by these migrants to serve as a warning to others.

The 19th Century
The ship The Black Rock encounters the island and is literally dragged out of the water by the Monster. Most of the passengers and crew, including Captain Magnus Hanso, are killed. Magnus Hanso is buried near The Black Rock's final resting place by the few survivors.

The 20th and 21st centuries

Foundation and Alvar Hanso
The matematician Enzo Valenzetti develops a rudimentory form of the mathematical field denoted "psychohistory" by the author Isaac Asimov in the book Foundation. Enzo's research leads to a conclusion much more dire than Asimov's: the extinction of the human race.

The industrialist Alvar Hanso becomes aware of Valenzetti's results. Possessing a significant fraction of the immense wealth necessary to even begin to engineer cultures on a global scale -- and thus potentially alter Valenzetti's conclusions -- Alvar Hanso begins the contruction of colonies similar to Asimov's "First Foundation".

Alvar Hanso and the island
Perhaps because of some resonance with the fate of his ancestor Magnus Hanso, Alvar Hanso chooses the main island and it's smaller neighbor as the location for one of his Foundations. These colonists and their descendents eventually become known to the "Losties" (i.e. the survivors of Oceanic flight 815) as "The Others".

The creation of the DHARMA Initiative
The Monster is encountered on the island by Alvar Hanso or his agents. The deep connection between magnetism, consciousness, and the nature of reality becomes apparent from debreifings of survivors of these encounters. These encounters lead Alvar Hanso to collaborate with Gerald and Karen DeGroot in founding the D.H.A.R.M.A. Initiative.

The purposes of the D.H.A.R.M.A. Initiative are two-fold. The first is to study, contain, and if necessary destroy the "Monster". The second is to collaborate with the new "Foundation" established on the island to produce what is in effect Asimov's "Second Foundation".

The D.H.A.R.M.A. stations that have been discovered by the Losties have their nominal functions at this time with two exceptions. The Swan station is devoted to electromagnetic research but "the button" and the magnetic anomaly are not yet present. The purpose of the Pearl station is to monitor the inhabitants of the other stations for signs of the Monster's psychic attacks.

The "incident"
Alvar Hanso and an unnamed individual whose initials are MDG and possibly others experience an "incident" that involves the Monster. The nature of the incident is sufficiently grave as to require drastic modifications to the D.H.A.R.M.A. Initiative's plans for the island. Following the incident, the magnetic anomaly and the computer control with the 108 minute countdown are purposefully installed into the Swan station as a "dead man's switch" in an attempt to protect those members of the D.H.A.R.M.A. Initiative still present on the island. The individual whose initials are MDG adopts the aliases "Mark Wickman" and "Marvin Candle" in the post-incident station orientation films.

The monster makes attempts to penetrate the Swan hatch and destroy the magnetic anomaly there (in a way that permits the monster to survive, of course). These attacks by the monster fail in their goal but eventually drive most of the D.H.A.R.M.A. Initiative personnel away from the island. The polar bears, who played some technical role in D.H.A.R.M.A. Initiative research, escape from their cages during this period

The "numbers"
The subconscious minds of the Swan station operators becomes programmed by a combination of the numerical computer code "4 8 15 16 23 42" along with the continued stress and anxiety of living in the Swan station. Over the years, this and the unusual properties of the island accumulates a vast psychic import to these numbers in this order.

The numbers occur as core numerical values in the Valenzetti equation and are continually transmitted from the island from a radio tower -- these events happen before the incident. This may be due to a process of reverse causality due to the import that the numbers are fated to acquire.

Sam Toomey and Leonard Sims hear the equations while stationed at the antarctic listening post that is later occupied by Mathias and Henrik. The numbers are eventually given to Hurley by Leonard.

The desire of the Swan station operators to escape from their duty combines with the unusual properties of the island to "suck in" potential replacements for the Swan station. Desmond, Rousseau, Henry Gale the balloonist, "Adam and Eve", and the Losties are ultimately brought to the island in this way.

The Losties
The Losties encounter various psychic phenomena due to the unusual properties of the island:
  • The subconscious desire to be healthy and whole (and perhaps pregnant) causes rapid and/or miraculous healing to take place on the island.

  • Desmond's flashes of premonition, which may stem from his desire to escape from the series of painful personal events that he experiences.

  • Eko's dreams up to the point where he adopts entering the control code into the Swan station computer. These premonitions are for the purpose of averting Eko's later death at the hands of the Monster by protecting Eko inside the Swan station.

  • Some of the premonitions seem to be real ("Bernard is alive" for example)

  • The whispers, which are presumably some form of telepathy operating on the island.

  • Some manifestations of physical objects. These may or may not be real.
Losties and the Monster
Locke is being manipulated by the Monster to destroy the Swan hatch, thus freeing the Monster from the dead man's switch. This explains Locke's sense of intelligent purpose from the island. That The Black Rock has some special importance for the Monster is indicated by it's attack upon Locke after his trip to that ship.

Many of the visions (Jack's father, Dave and the visions of Walt, for example) that the Losties experience on the island come very close to being lethal. This is the Monster's psychic attacks on them.

3 Comments:

Blogger William said...

This is becoming like a West Wing type obsession for you.

9:34 AM  
Blogger Joseph said...

I think stumbling across the Lostpedia is what pushed me over the line.

By the way, the West Wing Wiki is online.

9:40 PM  
Blogger Joseph said...

Now that the hatch is blown up, the numbers aren't cursed anymore. This reinforces my theory.

11:38 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home