Putting It All Together: Comic book physics, the mirror, and why, in the end, there can be only one.
Warning: You must choose to understand this theory.
Warning: Visual aids are an unfortunate necessity.
Warning: Try not to extract any information above an 8th
grade learning level.
Perhaps you are very familiar with quantum physics. Perhaps you can even explain it using only star trek and a bottle cap for reference. I myself never could stand the thought that, theoretically, for every turning point or defining moment in my life there would spring up 2 timelines—the one that was right and the one that was not--that would continue rolling forward. I find the idea ugly and disturbing because, somewhere in the haze, the consequence of every single bad decision or selfish choice I’ve made in one timeline would continue to exist side by side with everything I managed to accomplish. Knowing that a stupid, selfish and defeated version of my life is shadowing me would be the ultimate buzz-kill. In the end, it wouldn’t really matter if I redeemed myself or avoided cosmic tragedy; somewhere in the universe, my life would always still suck.
If this version of reality is remotely possible, then it’s an ironic blessing that we can’t actually prove it. These two possible turning point outcomes, according to theory, can never intersect, but continue to branch out over and over again (with each new turning point) until reaching the realm of infinite possibility. Strangely enough, infinite possibility can be defined as non-existence, meaning that by the time I die, when the opportunity for me to be altered by my experiences ends, the infinite possible number of endpoint identities formed by the different events and decisions of my life render my identity indefinable by the universe. According to quantum physics, my free will ultimately renders my identity null.
It’s no wonder, then, that time travel theory carries a near pathological paradox. If I can travel back in time into my life as it was, my traveling identity would be changed by the new events I encounter. Once I interact with past events of my own timeline, any resulting branches from the original events would be altered, including the one with my traveling identity on it. Without some kind of sci-fi rationalized protection, my traveling identity would be altered, if it even survives the branch shift, precluding me from ever traveling back in time in the first place.
Before LOST, as far as I can tell, only Stan Lee has crafted the most appealing “comic book logic” to circumvent this issue. However, we call it “comic book logic” for a reason. When timelines became a dominant theory of the events of LOST, the producers were quick to announce that a quick and easy “go back in time and save everyone” would not be the answer. They proved this with Desmond’s continued flashes of Charlie’s accidental deaths. By averting them over and over again, Desmond changes the circumstances and affects of Charlie’s death, but not the fact of his death. Charlie wasn’t “saved.”
To be happy with our fiction, we must suspend disbelief. However, to be happy adult watchers who’ve invested 6 years into watching a show that requires an unusual amount of commitment, we can only suspend disbelief so far. The producers are wise to assure us they will not waste our time. Trite, second-run reverses, such everything is all in Hurley’s mind, or they are all dead and don’t know it, OR a hero sacrificing himself to go back in time and change one decision (Jack hijacks the plane in Australia and prevents the entire show) to finalize the story would be very, very foolish (not to mention, ruin future DVD and syndication deals).
This is why I think time travel is actually a “red herring” for the mythology of the show. Physically traveling in a “Time Machine” way doesn’t seem to apply here. When Desmond leaves the island and lands on the freighter, his consciousness does the traveling and not his body, and while his 1996 self is jumping around, his 2004 self is in hibernation (flux, actually). Ben and a few other “others” seem to jump around physically, but we still don’t have quite enough evidence in the show to definitively say why. What we DO have evidence of points to what I like to call the “Exclusively Simplified Quantum Theory of LOST,” which includes four main premises one should keep in mind while watching LOST and while reading theories, especially any interpretations of Season 4.
The Exclusively Simplified Quantum Theory of Lost:
An evidence based theory that provides the most logical explanation for the general weirdness of Season 4 and how it relates to the past three seasons.
Remember: 8th grade education. No higher.
Premise # 1:
There is only ONE reality in LOST, and it is a linear reality because the human mind can only PHYSICALLY move along one continuous line, and can only move forward through experiences in physical sequence until the endpoint (possibly at death) EVEN IF those experiences take place in the past.
***The consciousness identity, however, can float around where it damn well pleases in time.***
Premise #2: Our losties only exist in the present (island time).
This idea seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? However, it is the most effective way to dispel the “travel back in time” interpretation of events. When a book is not being read, its story cannot take place. If I pick up the book and begin reading, the story takes place as long as I continue reading. Once I stop, the story stops. It does not continue on its own, like a TV show does when the TV is switched off.
The flashbacks work the same way. Since the flashbacks are in the past, they are nothing but memory for our losties. As the characters ponder the past decisions and events in their lives, these thoughts take place inside their heads. [In short, these events take place in their conscious mind or soul or whatever it is that makes their bodies not “pieces of meat."] These experiences can’t be physical reality because these experiences don’t exist in physical reality any longer.
The flash-forwards, however, are a trickier business. Let’s save them for another time, but let’s focus on the material fact: in LOST, functional reality can only exist in the present.
Premise #3: One physical reality does not mean much to the conscious mind on the island.
When our minds wander or we dream at night, the experiences we see, feel, and hear—they all “seem” very real at times. Ever had a dream that left a rotten feeling in your chest the rest of the day? Ever mistook a dream for a memory?
Here’s where our losties are taking it in the shorts. If you remove other variables (Ben, Jacob, Widmore) and just focus on this one idea, the radical character changes we’ve seen in Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sun, Jin, Juliet and even Ben in Season 4 begin to make sense. Jack and Kate in particular have become unpredictable and frankly confusing as Season 4 plummetted to an endpoint. The question is this: why?
If the last 3 seasons have seen our losties confront their pasts, develop relationships and strike out on their “chance at a new life,” why has this season, “The Beginning of The End,” shown them unraveling at the seams? Fan feedback is overwhelmingly confused. We love it, but we don’t get it. An entire show goes by that supposedly reveals secret after secret, but by the closing credits, our “filler show” reflex is tingling. “Eggtown,” “The Other Woman,” and “Meet Kevin Johnson,” are prime examples.
And what happened to Kate? Why is she so radically different—the way she speaks, moves, responds, dresses, bathes--even her hair is completely different. A comparison of Kate from Season 3 and Kate from Season 4 shows very little correlation between the two. Some have speculated that the writers are losing their touch or Evangeline Lily is unhappy living in Hawai’i—any possible reason for this weirdness has been debated at length. However, Kate is the clue that explains everything, and Locke is the clue that explains everything else. The kicker, however, is Jack, who I think is the center of the quest our losties are involved in (whether they know it or not).
[This theory was difficult for me to verbalize. To work on it, I tinkered with a Lost Vid on Jack. You are welcome to check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uywr7SLcYI. Kate and Locke vids are coming.]
Premise #4: The side effects of the properties of the island cause a blending of parallel conscious minds. That is, each character, to some degree, exists with a dual consciousness in one physical body. BUT ONLY 2 – the present, on island, and the alternative.
IMPORTANT CAVEAT: This phenomenon is retroactive ONLY TO THE SPECIFIC FLASHBACKS and FLASH FORWARDS (more on this later, too).
Don’t worry, I have proof. [That's coming, too. I promise.]
The side effects of the island, this dual consciousness, this is why our losties are acting so strangely. The human body does not appreciate squatters. Only one consciousness gets to play at a time, and only one consciousness gets to be in control. The weirdness that becomes the characters of Jack, Kate, Sun, Ben, Juliet, Ben, Desmond, Michael—these characters all exhibit different reactions to this struggle for control. We can see this when we closely examine screen caps with Easter eggs right before our eyes in nearly every show, and it starts from the very first shot of the Pilot.
Now, I'm sure you are wondering, where is this proof of which you speak? What have you told us that, in most ways, we don't already know?
I'll leave you with four questions to ponder as I polish Part II. (It's not like we don't have 8 months to kill or anything!)
1. Who are these squatters, and why are they camping out on the island and within our losties?
2. Do they have any contact with other squatter-type folks outside of the island?
3. Which characters on-island are aware of this interference and to what degree are they fighting/cooperating with "them?"
4. Do any of these squatters have to do with the extensive presence of the dead surrounding our story?
Coming Up: Part II: Who's in the Mirror?
Theory by aohora
Warning: You must choose to understand this theory.
Warning: Visual aids are an unfortunate necessity.
Warning: Try not to extract any information above an 8th
grade learning level.
Perhaps you are very familiar with quantum physics. Perhaps you can even explain it using only star trek and a bottle cap for reference. I myself never could stand the thought that, theoretically, for every turning point or defining moment in my life there would spring up 2 timelines—the one that was right and the one that was not--that would continue rolling forward. I find the idea ugly and disturbing because, somewhere in the haze, the consequence of every single bad decision or selfish choice I’ve made in one timeline would continue to exist side by side with everything I managed to accomplish. Knowing that a stupid, selfish and defeated version of my life is shadowing me would be the ultimate buzz-kill. In the end, it wouldn’t really matter if I redeemed myself or avoided cosmic tragedy; somewhere in the universe, my life would always still suck.
If this version of reality is remotely possible, then it’s an ironic blessing that we can’t actually prove it. These two possible turning point outcomes, according to theory, can never intersect, but continue to branch out over and over again (with each new turning point) until reaching the realm of infinite possibility. Strangely enough, infinite possibility can be defined as non-existence, meaning that by the time I die, when the opportunity for me to be altered by my experiences ends, the infinite possible number of endpoint identities formed by the different events and decisions of my life render my identity indefinable by the universe. According to quantum physics, my free will ultimately renders my identity null.
It’s no wonder, then, that time travel theory carries a near pathological paradox. If I can travel back in time into my life as it was, my traveling identity would be changed by the new events I encounter. Once I interact with past events of my own timeline, any resulting branches from the original events would be altered, including the one with my traveling identity on it. Without some kind of sci-fi rationalized protection, my traveling identity would be altered, if it even survives the branch shift, precluding me from ever traveling back in time in the first place.
Before LOST, as far as I can tell, only Stan Lee has crafted the most appealing “comic book logic” to circumvent this issue. However, we call it “comic book logic” for a reason. When timelines became a dominant theory of the events of LOST, the producers were quick to announce that a quick and easy “go back in time and save everyone” would not be the answer. They proved this with Desmond’s continued flashes of Charlie’s accidental deaths. By averting them over and over again, Desmond changes the circumstances and affects of Charlie’s death, but not the fact of his death. Charlie wasn’t “saved.”
To be happy with our fiction, we must suspend disbelief. However, to be happy adult watchers who’ve invested 6 years into watching a show that requires an unusual amount of commitment, we can only suspend disbelief so far. The producers are wise to assure us they will not waste our time. Trite, second-run reverses, such everything is all in Hurley’s mind, or they are all dead and don’t know it, OR a hero sacrificing himself to go back in time and change one decision (Jack hijacks the plane in Australia and prevents the entire show) to finalize the story would be very, very foolish (not to mention, ruin future DVD and syndication deals).
This is why I think time travel is actually a “red herring” for the mythology of the show. Physically traveling in a “Time Machine” way doesn’t seem to apply here. When Desmond leaves the island and lands on the freighter, his consciousness does the traveling and not his body, and while his 1996 self is jumping around, his 2004 self is in hibernation (flux, actually). Ben and a few other “others” seem to jump around physically, but we still don’t have quite enough evidence in the show to definitively say why. What we DO have evidence of points to what I like to call the “Exclusively Simplified Quantum Theory of LOST,” which includes four main premises one should keep in mind while watching LOST and while reading theories, especially any interpretations of Season 4.
The Exclusively Simplified Quantum Theory of Lost:
An evidence based theory that provides the most logical explanation for the general weirdness of Season 4 and how it relates to the past three seasons.
Remember: 8th grade education. No higher.
Premise # 1:
There is only ONE reality in LOST, and it is a linear reality because the human mind can only PHYSICALLY move along one continuous line, and can only move forward through experiences in physical sequence until the endpoint (possibly at death) EVEN IF those experiences take place in the past.
***The consciousness identity, however, can float around where it damn well pleases in time.***
Premise #2: Our losties only exist in the present (island time).
This idea seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? However, it is the most effective way to dispel the “travel back in time” interpretation of events. When a book is not being read, its story cannot take place. If I pick up the book and begin reading, the story takes place as long as I continue reading. Once I stop, the story stops. It does not continue on its own, like a TV show does when the TV is switched off.
The flashbacks work the same way. Since the flashbacks are in the past, they are nothing but memory for our losties. As the characters ponder the past decisions and events in their lives, these thoughts take place inside their heads. [In short, these events take place in their conscious mind or soul or whatever it is that makes their bodies not “pieces of meat."] These experiences can’t be physical reality because these experiences don’t exist in physical reality any longer.
The flash-forwards, however, are a trickier business. Let’s save them for another time, but let’s focus on the material fact: in LOST, functional reality can only exist in the present.
Premise #3: One physical reality does not mean much to the conscious mind on the island.
When our minds wander or we dream at night, the experiences we see, feel, and hear—they all “seem” very real at times. Ever had a dream that left a rotten feeling in your chest the rest of the day? Ever mistook a dream for a memory?
Here’s where our losties are taking it in the shorts. If you remove other variables (Ben, Jacob, Widmore) and just focus on this one idea, the radical character changes we’ve seen in Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sun, Jin, Juliet and even Ben in Season 4 begin to make sense. Jack and Kate in particular have become unpredictable and frankly confusing as Season 4 plummetted to an endpoint. The question is this: why?
If the last 3 seasons have seen our losties confront their pasts, develop relationships and strike out on their “chance at a new life,” why has this season, “The Beginning of The End,” shown them unraveling at the seams? Fan feedback is overwhelmingly confused. We love it, but we don’t get it. An entire show goes by that supposedly reveals secret after secret, but by the closing credits, our “filler show” reflex is tingling. “Eggtown,” “The Other Woman,” and “Meet Kevin Johnson,” are prime examples.
And what happened to Kate? Why is she so radically different—the way she speaks, moves, responds, dresses, bathes--even her hair is completely different. A comparison of Kate from Season 3 and Kate from Season 4 shows very little correlation between the two. Some have speculated that the writers are losing their touch or Evangeline Lily is unhappy living in Hawai’i—any possible reason for this weirdness has been debated at length. However, Kate is the clue that explains everything, and Locke is the clue that explains everything else. The kicker, however, is Jack, who I think is the center of the quest our losties are involved in (whether they know it or not).
[This theory was difficult for me to verbalize. To work on it, I tinkered with a Lost Vid on Jack. You are welcome to check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uywr7SLcYI. Kate and Locke vids are coming.]
Premise #4: The side effects of the properties of the island cause a blending of parallel conscious minds. That is, each character, to some degree, exists with a dual consciousness in one physical body. BUT ONLY 2 – the present, on island, and the alternative.
IMPORTANT CAVEAT: This phenomenon is retroactive ONLY TO THE SPECIFIC FLASHBACKS and FLASH FORWARDS (more on this later, too).
Don’t worry, I have proof. [That's coming, too. I promise.]
The side effects of the island, this dual consciousness, this is why our losties are acting so strangely. The human body does not appreciate squatters. Only one consciousness gets to play at a time, and only one consciousness gets to be in control. The weirdness that becomes the characters of Jack, Kate, Sun, Ben, Juliet, Ben, Desmond, Michael—these characters all exhibit different reactions to this struggle for control. We can see this when we closely examine screen caps with Easter eggs right before our eyes in nearly every show, and it starts from the very first shot of the Pilot.
Now, I'm sure you are wondering, where is this proof of which you speak? What have you told us that, in most ways, we don't already know?
I'll leave you with four questions to ponder as I polish Part II. (It's not like we don't have 8 months to kill or anything!)
1. Who are these squatters, and why are they camping out on the island and within our losties?
2. Do they have any contact with other squatter-type folks outside of the island?
3. Which characters on-island are aware of this interference and to what degree are they fighting/cooperating with "them?"
4. Do any of these squatters have to do with the extensive presence of the dead surrounding our story?
Coming Up: Part II: Who's in the Mirror?
Theory by aohora
