Exotic Matter Grand Theory by IllyriaLegacy

In the episode "There's No Place Like Home", the DI video specifically said the experiments near the donkey wheel involved "exotic matter" that the island was emanating. This is the first time that they described the island's energy as something different than electromagnetic. Perhaps that revelation is a key clue that explains why the island can do what it does and is so important.

So, what is exotic matter? If you google it, you'll find that exotic matter is not actually something specific; it's a class of various hypothetical matter whose defining characteristic is that they defy certain fundamental laws of physics. While it's mostly theoretical, scientist have explored whether certain kinds of exotic energy could allow all sorts of far out stuff including faster than light speed and time travel. In a show that's all about bizarre phenomenon, that's a very intriguing class of matter. (It's also interesting to note that the one real-world phenomenon that could fall under the umbrella of exotic matter is called "the Casimir effect" and is specifically mentioned by Pierre Chang in that same DI video.)

In addition to what the real world clues us in on about exotic matter, we can also examine how the Lost writers describe the nature of this energy.

* They have suggested that the unique energy in these pockets can enable certain people to effect their thoughts into reality. For example, in "S.O.S", the healer that Bernard and Rose visited said that he uses energy from his local pocket of energy to psychically heal his patients. In some sense, he was able to use this unusual energy to turn his thoughts into reality. He also told Rose that there were much bigger pockets in the world that may be able to help her.
* The Lost writers have also told us that exotic matter can cause time travel phenomenon. We've seen the DI orientation tape that discusses how they specifically used exotic matter to cause a bunny to travel in time. And of course, we saw how turning the wheel, which was right next to the very same room those experiments were conducted in, caused all of season five's time travel.
* The Lost writers have told us that large doses of the energy seems to give people the ability to be an exception to normal rules of time travel. For example, Desmond gained that ability after used the failsafe and was "reborn." Faraday specifically said that he was different than everyone else when it came to time travel.
* Finally, we know that the energy can effect physical teleportation of individual people (Ben and Locke to Tunisia) and the entire island.


To review, we know that island's unique energy can at least do the following that, like real exotic matter, defy the basic laws of the space time as we know them:

1. Cause both consciousness-based and physical time travel
2. Give knowledge of the future via flashes or visions
3. Physical teleportation
4. Allow people to turn their thoughts into reality
5. Allow people to be exempt from the rules of time travel


So here's the theory. If exotic matter allows certain people's thoughts to become a reality, what if the exotic matter pocket under the island is so massive that the very thoughts and activities of the island's inhabitants are propagated away from the island and begin to affect the real world on a global scale? If people who are special can use the energy to get exactly what they want, it's not that big of a stretch to say that people's thoughts and activities on the island, who perhaps are unable to focus its use, are also having unintended physical ramifications in the greater world.

If we make the assumption that exotic matter behaves in this way, a surprising amount of Lost's mysteries can be explained:

1. What are special people?

They are people who, by either hyper-exposure to exotic matter or a natural ability, are able to use exotic energy to do special things. Some people may have this ability naturally like Walt, who seems to be able to create things out of thin air, while other achieve it by exposure to the island, like Desmond (via the failsafe incident) or Miles (by being born on the island).

2. Why do people talk as if what happens on the the island has global ramifications?

Several characters in the know (Hawking, Ben, Illana, Bram, Faraday, Jacob, etc.) have implied that what happens on the island may affect no less than the entire future of mankind. Eloise and Faraday say "God help us all" if they don't pull off what they have in mind. Illana and Bram talk about "the one who will save us all." Jacob and MiB discuss how things will only end once, i.e. the end of the world. Other than theories that use the Valenzetti equation, very few theories try to explain why some character are acting like they're trying to avoid the end of the world. Under this theory, the apocalyptic nature of the war makes sense. If a group that is viewed as the bad guys gets control of the island, the exotic energy can propagate out and cause events in the world to be similarly bad. If they protect the island or make sure that only good people are on it, then they will also be protecting the fate of mankind.

Ironically, this can also be looked at as protecting the free will of humanity in the sense that keeping people off of the island will prevent people in the real world from being unduly influenced by the actions they have no control over.

3. What is the significance of the numbers?

The exit point of the biggest pocket of exotic matter is at the Swan station. The hatch has the numbers as it's serial code. Rather than being another numbers coincidence, perhaps this serial number is the source of the phenomenon. Perhaps the exotic matter which passes through the hatch skews the probability of real-world events towards the numbers on the hatch.

4. Why do the others want to only keep good people on the island?

Obviously, the reason under this theory would be that they want to protect the island from bad people to make sure that the exotic matter only propagates goodness to the rest of the world.

5. Who are Jacob and the MiB?

Under this theory, those guys don't have to be aliens, people from the future or gods. If these special abilities are linked to exposure to exotic matter or a natural ability to manipulate it, perhaps Jacob are MiB are just two ancient explorers who first discovered the island. Perhaps they're the ones who built the temples and the donkey wheel. And perhaps they had some sort of Desmond-like metamorphosis through either long-term exposure or even visiting the core of the pocket (the room on the other side of the donkey wheel?) which gave them their special abilities.

6. What is the nature of the conflict between Jacob and MiB? Who is the bad guy?

Under this theory, one could argue that they are both good guys. Jacob believes that man's salvation can be achieved by bringing good people to the island so that goodness can propagate. That's why he gives the Others various lists of the good people. In contrast, the MiB believes that the whole idea is a foolish endeavor; the people on the island will all eventually become corrupted, thus propagating corruption to the rest of the world. He wants to save the world by making sure that the island doesn't influence events negatively.

7. How can dead people be "resurrected"?

One thing that Miles taught us about the nature of death in the mythology of lost is that some sort of consciousness remains in the dead body. It seems to be more than just a snapshot, since he's been shown having a two-way conversation with them. If the exotic matter can allow people to use their thoughts to manipulate physical reality, it's not a big jump to say that it can also allow another form of thought, namely whatever consciousness remains in the dead body, to again become a physical reality. If that is the case, this theory would also explain why the bodies have to be on the island for resurrection to occur.

8. Why did Jacob touch people?

If Jacob has a version of that Desmond's ability to see the future, perhaps he would know that the losties would one day travel into the past to do something important. Perhaps he was preparing them for what they needed to do by visiting each one and irradiating them with some of his own exotic matter via a touch. He may be doing this to make the losties an exception to normal time travel rules, in the same way that Desmond became an exception when he was flooded with radiation after using the failsafe.

9. What is the smoke monster?

This is pure conjecture, but one possible explanation is that it's a third explorer from their original group who had a very strong innate Walt-like ability to use the exotic matter. He developed far stronger abilities than either Jacob or the MiB and can achieve a completely amorphous shape. He differs philosophically from Jacob and the MiB in that, instead of manipulating people, he chooses to take the direct route and simply kills or scares away people he judges to be bad. In some sense, he acts as a security system for the island, physically protecting it from infiltration by bad folks.

What it doesn't explain: What are the rules and what does a loophole in those rules mean? (Possible explanation is that the rules are simply the rules of time travel, and not some arbitrary game rules they set up.) What are the whispers? What is preventing people from having babies? How is the island able to manipulate events in the real world in a direct way, for example, Michael's inability to kill himself, all the coincidences that led to the Losties being on the ship, etc.

Well, there you have it. Personally, I like this theory because it doesn't rely on gods, aliens or spiritual issues. What do you guys think?