Here’s my theory, and it’s very similar to some others posted on this board. But I believe my theory can be justified based on three observations: two of which have already happened on the show and one which has not, but will ultimately happen.
My theory is that ever since the hatch imploded, time on the island has been rapidly slipping or falling behind real time off the island. There are two observations which support this theory, and I will elaborate on both of them.
The first observation is that of the rocket experiment performed by Daniel. The result showed a time differential of around 31 minutes. But what is key here is relative to what starting point? I believe this 31-minute differential applies only to the period in which the rocket was launched to when it was received by Daniel (sort of like a stop watch, not a clock). According to Regina, she acknowledged that it took around 30 seconds for the rocket to reach Daniel from when it launched. But, according to Daniel, the stop watch in the rocket said it took about 31 minutes longer to reach his position. So, in a very basic sense, I believe that 1 second of elapsed time on the island is equivalent to about 1 minute of elapsed time off the island. In other words, if someone were to arrive at the island, stay on it for exactly one day and then leave the next, that person would find that 60 days have gone by in the outside world. And that means people in the outside world have! aged by 60 days, even though the person who left has only aged by 1 day.
Now for the second convincing observation. Locke was visited by an “older” Walt. Putting his magical kinetic powers aside, I believe Walt appeared to be around 13 to 15 years of age to Locke. Now we know for a fact that Walt was 9 years old when Flight 815 crashed, and we know for a fact that on Day 67, Michael took Walt off the island (see Lostpedia.com for facts). (This is also the day when the Hatch imploded and when I believe that on-island time started slipping relative to off-island time). Now fast forward a little bit to Locke’s vision of “older” Walt. That happened on Day 94, which is 27 days after Walt left the island. Now if you apply my theory that 1 day on-island equals 60 days off the island, then 27 days on-island is 4.4 years off-island (1,620 days). So Walt would now be over 13 years of age off-island (9 years + 4.4 years). This seems to fit the timeline quite well.
So here now is the final nail in the coffin that will prove my theory. It hasn’t happened yet, but I believe it will. The key lies in what year it will be in the outside world when the Oceanic 6 leave the island. Now remember, they did crash in mid-2004, but the hatch imploded on Day 67, which is the day when I believe that island time starting falling behind real world time. In the latest episode “The Economist”, we know that the number of days on the island has now reached 94 (see Lostpedia again for facts, Jack mentions around 100 days in the episode.) I’m assuming that Jack and the rest of the Oceanic 6 are getting close to getting of the island. And let’s say it happens by Day 100. So subtracting 67 from 100 yields 33 days. 33 days on the island means that about 5.5 years have gone by in the outside world. So that would mean the date in the outside world when the Oceanic 6 get off the island will be around 2010.
That’s my theory.
A few other tidbits:
1) I believe Dharma was using the Hatch to reset the island time to synch with the outside world every time the button was pushed every 108 minutes. This kept the island from slipping into the past, as it may have a natural tendancy to do. When synched, people could come and go to the island very easily, with little or unnoticeable delay (i.e. someone working on the island for Dharma could leave a year later and not arrive in a futuristic world). When the hatch imploded, this severed the ability to synch the island with the outside world.
2) Regina and Daniel can talk in real-time on the satellite phone because the rate or velocity of transmission is so fast, at such high frequencies, there is no noticeable delay.
Theory by BFD
My theory is that ever since the hatch imploded, time on the island has been rapidly slipping or falling behind real time off the island. There are two observations which support this theory, and I will elaborate on both of them.
The first observation is that of the rocket experiment performed by Daniel. The result showed a time differential of around 31 minutes. But what is key here is relative to what starting point? I believe this 31-minute differential applies only to the period in which the rocket was launched to when it was received by Daniel (sort of like a stop watch, not a clock). According to Regina, she acknowledged that it took around 30 seconds for the rocket to reach Daniel from when it launched. But, according to Daniel, the stop watch in the rocket said it took about 31 minutes longer to reach his position. So, in a very basic sense, I believe that 1 second of elapsed time on the island is equivalent to about 1 minute of elapsed time off the island. In other words, if someone were to arrive at the island, stay on it for exactly one day and then leave the next, that person would find that 60 days have gone by in the outside world. And that means people in the outside world have! aged by 60 days, even though the person who left has only aged by 1 day.
Now for the second convincing observation. Locke was visited by an “older” Walt. Putting his magical kinetic powers aside, I believe Walt appeared to be around 13 to 15 years of age to Locke. Now we know for a fact that Walt was 9 years old when Flight 815 crashed, and we know for a fact that on Day 67, Michael took Walt off the island (see Lostpedia.com for facts). (This is also the day when the Hatch imploded and when I believe that on-island time started slipping relative to off-island time). Now fast forward a little bit to Locke’s vision of “older” Walt. That happened on Day 94, which is 27 days after Walt left the island. Now if you apply my theory that 1 day on-island equals 60 days off the island, then 27 days on-island is 4.4 years off-island (1,620 days). So Walt would now be over 13 years of age off-island (9 years + 4.4 years). This seems to fit the timeline quite well.
So here now is the final nail in the coffin that will prove my theory. It hasn’t happened yet, but I believe it will. The key lies in what year it will be in the outside world when the Oceanic 6 leave the island. Now remember, they did crash in mid-2004, but the hatch imploded on Day 67, which is the day when I believe that island time starting falling behind real world time. In the latest episode “The Economist”, we know that the number of days on the island has now reached 94 (see Lostpedia again for facts, Jack mentions around 100 days in the episode.) I’m assuming that Jack and the rest of the Oceanic 6 are getting close to getting of the island. And let’s say it happens by Day 100. So subtracting 67 from 100 yields 33 days. 33 days on the island means that about 5.5 years have gone by in the outside world. So that would mean the date in the outside world when the Oceanic 6 get off the island will be around 2010.
That’s my theory.
A few other tidbits:
1) I believe Dharma was using the Hatch to reset the island time to synch with the outside world every time the button was pushed every 108 minutes. This kept the island from slipping into the past, as it may have a natural tendancy to do. When synched, people could come and go to the island very easily, with little or unnoticeable delay (i.e. someone working on the island for Dharma could leave a year later and not arrive in a futuristic world). When the hatch imploded, this severed the ability to synch the island with the outside world.
2) Regina and Daniel can talk in real-time on the satellite phone because the rate or velocity of transmission is so fast, at such high frequencies, there is no noticeable delay.
Theory by BFD
