If time is linear, a river, upon which events that occur always have occurred and there is likely nothing anyone can do to alter the path of that river, then everything we see on LOST happened the way it was destined to happen. It is merely our perspective that hampers our ability to see that linearity. So for example, the left behinders and the 06 that travel to the past were always part of the past for the people who lived in the “past.” If time is linear, you cannot redo the past events differently to accommodate the time traveler, otherwise there are no "real" rules to preserve the future.
Our lens is imperfect, as we are seeing the events transpiring only through the eyes of the time travelers or through the eyes of someone living the life at that past time. And with a lens, we see, at best, as much as the lens allows. While people in the future might forget events that occurred when they traveled to the past, tangible evidence should not change. In other words, if the picture from 1977 was created in 1977, then after that, there was never a time when that picture did not have Jack and company. If Jack had the opportunity to see the picture after they crashed, then inexplicably to him, he would be in it. The 1977 group photo and Christian’s reference to it are, therefore, important clues. I believe we are getting closer to the point of establishing that Ben’s actions throughout the series appear to support a conclusion that he not only remembers the past with Losties, but he took full advantage of that knowledge to further his goals – lying and cheati! ng and where necessary making it up as he went along.
If we expand on this - The people from the past that survive with the knowledge of visitors from the future have an extraordinary advantage over everyone else. In light of the developments this season (and where we see this going), in my opinion, the purge occurred (in part) BECAUSE too many people gained the knowledge of the existence of future events. The major players with knowledge that survived the purge besides Ben are, Richard, Charlotte, Widmore and Hawking. Add Desmond who is still alive, but came afterward. (There may be others (like Ethan & Radzinsky now dead) but for now let’s deal with this group.)
Desmond: Desmond is not actually a direct survivor from the past Dharma days, but his experience with Faraday is very instructive. Desmond apparently does not remember the Faraday visit to the Hatch until he is off island. We, as observers, believe this is reasonable, as the event had not occurred until Faraday jumped to the past, at which point Faraday talked to Desmond. But wait a moment, linear time means that that conversation took place in that year at that place for Desmond. For Faraday it may be a conversation in 2004 taking place in Desmond’s past, but for Desmond, he is having the conversation sometime between 2001 and 2004. Desmond should not be able to experience that day and time twice. For Desmond that conversation took place when we see him open the hatch and talk to Faraday. As such, Desmond always had that conversation with Faraday, and the memory was somehow suppressed. It may well be that his mental state and the physical location suppressed it un! til he was off island, but that conversation should have been in his memory bank. I say suppressed, because the next person - Charlotte’s experience is the very opposite of Desmond’s.
Charlotte: Charlotte is flashing through time with the other left behinders. Remarkably, as she is speaking to Faraday she remembers a conversation when she is a child with a man who told her not to come back to the island. Now what is remarkable is that Faraday had not yet traveled to Dharma 1974. So from Faraday and our perspective, Charlotte remembers a conversation that had not taken place. She, on the other hand, had that conversation when she had it - time being linear and no one can re-live the event. Now Charlotte was young, so we can excuse her initial failure to recall the conversation until the very end. But what is fundamentally different from Desmond is that Faraday’s visit to the past was apparently not a linear pre-requisite for Charlotte achieving the memory of the actual visit. What the writers are potentially setting up is a failed attempt on Faraday’s part to “change” the future by his past dealings with Charlotte. In much the same way Desmon! d sought to prevent Charlie from dieing, Faraday will have to fail otherwise the rules are inconsistent. Why? Because time is linear, and Charlotte dies. Remember Hawking with Desmond – you will and will always turn that key.
Richard Alpert: One of the more mysterious characters, but clearly he remembers the past events as evidenced by the several interactions with Locke and now Sawyer and we see and continue to see him make use of that knowledge traveling to Locke’s birth and childhood.
Widmore & Hawking: We do not yet know enough about these characters recollection of the events on the island, as to date we have not had enough information to reach a conclusion, but I believe from their actions they have exhibited conduct from which we can infer that they possess past knowledge of interactions with the left behinders and/or the 06.
Ben: That leaves us with our favorite evil genius. Think about every step along the way. Ben had a plan to deal with most contingencies, but not all, as his knowledge of the future was not complete. It was partial knowledge that he gained and which, when he could, he would extrapolate from to make decisions. The future for him happened in the form of the left behinders, the returning 06ers and the corollary players like Juliet, Miles and Faraday. (It is likely that it was Ben that gave Richard the idea to recruit Juliet because of what he will learn while living with Dharma.) Also - the writers have conveniently separated the Dharma gang from the Hostiles inteh 70s, so the Hostiles only get a glimpse of travelers form the future through Richard.
OK – So what about all that “Jack you can’t leave the island” drama? Let’s ask another question - If Jack had NOT contacted the freighter and stopped the jamming, he would have stayed on the island and then there was no reason to move the island. But if that happened then Jack and company would never go back to Dharma time. Could this have been one of Ben’s attempts to change the course of time? Perhaps, but no not really, because he knew Jack would leave or destiny would cross correct. Jack would leave eventually and come back and that is why he had the airstrip prepared all along on Hydra). Time is linear, Ben could try to stop Jack, but he can’t succeed. Why? The picture proves Jack and company flashed in time differently than the left behinders. Coincidence? No - They stayed off island for three years – the same amount of time the left behinders lived on the island before Jack returned. The three years was simply one more proxy for getting Jack and c! ompany back on the island in 1977 and not in 1974.
And so that brings me back to the 1977 Dharma photo. If memories can be forgotten or suppressed, tangible evidence cannot be changed as it exists unless destroyed. What we will learn is the war being waged began with the “incident.” It was an attempt to control time in some way. Ben (and Richard) ultimately exiled Hawking & Widmore because of it (whether it succeeded or not), and executed the purge, not only to consolidate his position but to wipe the slate clean of anyone with knowledge of the time traveling future LOSTies. You might ask – why not hide the photos? Maybe Ben did, but Christian has a plan and that plan included using the photo to show Sun.
Parting question – Can time be changed? Perhaps yes, but with dire consequences. Theory by AndLost
Our lens is imperfect, as we are seeing the events transpiring only through the eyes of the time travelers or through the eyes of someone living the life at that past time. And with a lens, we see, at best, as much as the lens allows. While people in the future might forget events that occurred when they traveled to the past, tangible evidence should not change. In other words, if the picture from 1977 was created in 1977, then after that, there was never a time when that picture did not have Jack and company. If Jack had the opportunity to see the picture after they crashed, then inexplicably to him, he would be in it. The 1977 group photo and Christian’s reference to it are, therefore, important clues. I believe we are getting closer to the point of establishing that Ben’s actions throughout the series appear to support a conclusion that he not only remembers the past with Losties, but he took full advantage of that knowledge to further his goals – lying and cheati! ng and where necessary making it up as he went along.
If we expand on this - The people from the past that survive with the knowledge of visitors from the future have an extraordinary advantage over everyone else. In light of the developments this season (and where we see this going), in my opinion, the purge occurred (in part) BECAUSE too many people gained the knowledge of the existence of future events. The major players with knowledge that survived the purge besides Ben are, Richard, Charlotte, Widmore and Hawking. Add Desmond who is still alive, but came afterward. (There may be others (like Ethan & Radzinsky now dead) but for now let’s deal with this group.)
Desmond: Desmond is not actually a direct survivor from the past Dharma days, but his experience with Faraday is very instructive. Desmond apparently does not remember the Faraday visit to the Hatch until he is off island. We, as observers, believe this is reasonable, as the event had not occurred until Faraday jumped to the past, at which point Faraday talked to Desmond. But wait a moment, linear time means that that conversation took place in that year at that place for Desmond. For Faraday it may be a conversation in 2004 taking place in Desmond’s past, but for Desmond, he is having the conversation sometime between 2001 and 2004. Desmond should not be able to experience that day and time twice. For Desmond that conversation took place when we see him open the hatch and talk to Faraday. As such, Desmond always had that conversation with Faraday, and the memory was somehow suppressed. It may well be that his mental state and the physical location suppressed it un! til he was off island, but that conversation should have been in his memory bank. I say suppressed, because the next person - Charlotte’s experience is the very opposite of Desmond’s.
Charlotte: Charlotte is flashing through time with the other left behinders. Remarkably, as she is speaking to Faraday she remembers a conversation when she is a child with a man who told her not to come back to the island. Now what is remarkable is that Faraday had not yet traveled to Dharma 1974. So from Faraday and our perspective, Charlotte remembers a conversation that had not taken place. She, on the other hand, had that conversation when she had it - time being linear and no one can re-live the event. Now Charlotte was young, so we can excuse her initial failure to recall the conversation until the very end. But what is fundamentally different from Desmond is that Faraday’s visit to the past was apparently not a linear pre-requisite for Charlotte achieving the memory of the actual visit. What the writers are potentially setting up is a failed attempt on Faraday’s part to “change” the future by his past dealings with Charlotte. In much the same way Desmon! d sought to prevent Charlie from dieing, Faraday will have to fail otherwise the rules are inconsistent. Why? Because time is linear, and Charlotte dies. Remember Hawking with Desmond – you will and will always turn that key.
Richard Alpert: One of the more mysterious characters, but clearly he remembers the past events as evidenced by the several interactions with Locke and now Sawyer and we see and continue to see him make use of that knowledge traveling to Locke’s birth and childhood.
Widmore & Hawking: We do not yet know enough about these characters recollection of the events on the island, as to date we have not had enough information to reach a conclusion, but I believe from their actions they have exhibited conduct from which we can infer that they possess past knowledge of interactions with the left behinders and/or the 06.
Ben: That leaves us with our favorite evil genius. Think about every step along the way. Ben had a plan to deal with most contingencies, but not all, as his knowledge of the future was not complete. It was partial knowledge that he gained and which, when he could, he would extrapolate from to make decisions. The future for him happened in the form of the left behinders, the returning 06ers and the corollary players like Juliet, Miles and Faraday. (It is likely that it was Ben that gave Richard the idea to recruit Juliet because of what he will learn while living with Dharma.) Also - the writers have conveniently separated the Dharma gang from the Hostiles inteh 70s, so the Hostiles only get a glimpse of travelers form the future through Richard.
OK – So what about all that “Jack you can’t leave the island” drama? Let’s ask another question - If Jack had NOT contacted the freighter and stopped the jamming, he would have stayed on the island and then there was no reason to move the island. But if that happened then Jack and company would never go back to Dharma time. Could this have been one of Ben’s attempts to change the course of time? Perhaps, but no not really, because he knew Jack would leave or destiny would cross correct. Jack would leave eventually and come back and that is why he had the airstrip prepared all along on Hydra). Time is linear, Ben could try to stop Jack, but he can’t succeed. Why? The picture proves Jack and company flashed in time differently than the left behinders. Coincidence? No - They stayed off island for three years – the same amount of time the left behinders lived on the island before Jack returned. The three years was simply one more proxy for getting Jack and c! ompany back on the island in 1977 and not in 1974.
And so that brings me back to the 1977 Dharma photo. If memories can be forgotten or suppressed, tangible evidence cannot be changed as it exists unless destroyed. What we will learn is the war being waged began with the “incident.” It was an attempt to control time in some way. Ben (and Richard) ultimately exiled Hawking & Widmore because of it (whether it succeeded or not), and executed the purge, not only to consolidate his position but to wipe the slate clean of anyone with knowledge of the time traveling future LOSTies. You might ask – why not hide the photos? Maybe Ben did, but Christian has a plan and that plan included using the photo to show Sun.
Parting question – Can time be changed? Perhaps yes, but with dire consequences. Theory by AndLost
