The Island is Just Another Hatch by Steve Jobs

Remember how excited we all were by the neato things that fellow in the Hatch had (telescopes, a trippy mural on the wall with 815 written on it, a secret map on a giant door, the giant QUARANTINE door, etc.) and we all thought they must have tons of importance to the secrets of LOST?

Remember how we eventually figured out that it was all the result of two guys at a time living cut off from the rest of the world, quietly going insane wondering if they were really saving the world or not?

Similarly, MIB and Jacob are living completely cut off (QUARANTINE'd?) from the rest of the world. They've been there a LONG time. One of them scribbles/makes notes on the wall to pass the time. Over time, they've figured out how to 'game the system,' (much like Kelvin, Radzinsky and Desmond had learned to trigger false lock-downs) and use that knowledge to pass the time.

And then the elephant in the room. Does the reason Jacob and MIB (and the Mysterious Kid, apparently) are on the island MATTER? Maybe, as with the Numbers, the answer is yes and no.

Look at the Numbers. Sure, NOT entering them caused a plane crash and time loop that led to Jacob getting crisped, but do we know for sure that, if they were never entered, the results would be catastrophic?

Also, look at Michael using the computer to talk with Walt (or someone pretending to be Walt...). The instructions specifically said, DO NOT USE THE COMPUTER FOR ANYTHING BUT THE NUMBERS. "You're not supposed to do that." Sound familiar? ("You know the rules. You can't kill him.") Michael broke the rules. No catastrophic consequences, right? The Hatch didn't implode or anything...yet. BUT Michael did end up killing innocent people, getting several key losties captured. Then he LEFT THE ISLAND and regretted it until the day he died.

Desmond broke a lot of rules too, and he killed his Hatch-buddy... and stayed in the Hatch after consequently FAILING TO PUSH THE NOT/IMPORTANT BUTTON. when he finally managed to leave the hatch, he was trapped on the island anyway.

Smokey's broken loads of rules, killed bunches of people (including his Island-buddy), is trying to shirk his job on the Island, and wants to leave. Leaving the Hatch crashed a plane and nearly cause the END OF THE WORLD...maybe. I'm thinking there will be some serious consequences if Smokey gets what he wants -- even if all he really wants to do is go home and live the simple life like Des and Mike (who we agree are good people... okay Mikchael's a monster but he was protecting his 'special' son).

So the answer to the question of whether the Island needs to be protected, whether it is 'special,' whether the Numbers and names are important -- is yes and no. Was the Hatch important? Was its function 'special'? Do the Numbers have any meaning?

Are the purposes of the Hatch and the people in it somehow related to the purpose of the Island, Smokey, Jacob, and Mysterious Kid? And why IN HELL does a 12-14 year old kid just pop out of the jungle with blood all over his arms to tell an sweaty old bald smoke monster he broke the rules? (SYSTEM FAILURE anyone?)

Just some questions to think about....