Ok I just want to start by saying I'm not a physicist so this is a very basic interpretation of what I can understand. I've seen a lot of theories concerning time travel and this is how I understand it to relate to the idea of relativity.
First, I want to debunk the idea that time dilation caused the rocket to arrive late or causes Richard to remain young. Time dilation results in a "Fitzgerald contraction" which would cause the rocket to appear basically "smushed" to the people on the Island if time dilation was involved. Richard would be a gnome.
Second, I've been trying to wrap my idea around the Island going back in time, and I think I've been going at it from the wrong angle. I was thinking that when the Island went back in time to the 70s, it was as though the timeline had been "rewound" to the 1970s. There is another explanation.
Space and time are inextricably linked; its impossible to describe an event without including both a space and time, like coordinates. Although the losties may be able to "visit" a different time, time still passes for them. Let me explain. Instead of thinking the date changes from 2009 to 1970, think that hypothetically its 2/2/09 when Locke turns the wheel, the next day it is still 2/3/09 for the losties, not 2/3/1970. I am convinced that the people are the ones moving through time, not the Island.
From what I've been reading I also have a theory on how the losties can join the Dharma Initiative without changing the past. They must have been a part of the original Dharma initiative. But how is that possible, because they couldn't do that unless they went back in time in 2004? The answer is a wormhole.
Theoretically the exit to a wormhole could be built now, and the entrance at a later date, and anyone going in the entrance would pop out the exit. The relevant thing is that, as soon as you opened the exit, whoever went through the entrance would immediately pop out! They would be there ORIGINALLY even though they hadn't technically gone through the wormhole yet!
A wormhole also fits with the 305 degree bearing being necessary to leave the Island. The exit to a wormhole theoretically would act somewhat like flypaper, preventing anyone from leaving (think about trying to swim through really really dense water). However, it is possible that there would be a narrow area similar to the eye of a needle through which a person could leave the area surrounding the wormhole. This to me explains the 305 degree necessity as well as the rocket experiment: it wasn't on the right bearing, and it took longer to get through the "denser" space surrounding the "eye of the needle". It's like if you poke a hole through a marshmallow and then blow a toothpick through a straw at it: if it goes through the hole it will be much quicker than if it hits the marshmallow (I know this isn't a perfect analogy but I'm trying to explain/understand really complicated ideas).
On a related note, the Casimir effect apparently opens up the possibility that energy which exists in a vacuum could be tapped to create an unlimited supply. To me this seems to explain the "energy" of the Island and why it needed to be discharged every 108 minutes. I also think that perhaps Jughead is needed in some way to "tap" the energy created by the Casimir effect.
Whew! I know that was a dense one, and I really don't claim to be an expert, but I thought after reading some that time dilation seemed to be off the table but that a wormhole seems more likely than ever. I think its even possible that the exit opens and closes at different times. There could be a complex wormhole with exits in different time periods on the Island, which would allow travelers from the future to be spit out in different times. I'm not sure all the technical stuff is right, but I mean the writers aren't astrophysicists either, ya know? Theory by ivey_driveshaft
First, I want to debunk the idea that time dilation caused the rocket to arrive late or causes Richard to remain young. Time dilation results in a "Fitzgerald contraction" which would cause the rocket to appear basically "smushed" to the people on the Island if time dilation was involved. Richard would be a gnome.
Second, I've been trying to wrap my idea around the Island going back in time, and I think I've been going at it from the wrong angle. I was thinking that when the Island went back in time to the 70s, it was as though the timeline had been "rewound" to the 1970s. There is another explanation.
Space and time are inextricably linked; its impossible to describe an event without including both a space and time, like coordinates. Although the losties may be able to "visit" a different time, time still passes for them. Let me explain. Instead of thinking the date changes from 2009 to 1970, think that hypothetically its 2/2/09 when Locke turns the wheel, the next day it is still 2/3/09 for the losties, not 2/3/1970. I am convinced that the people are the ones moving through time, not the Island.
From what I've been reading I also have a theory on how the losties can join the Dharma Initiative without changing the past. They must have been a part of the original Dharma initiative. But how is that possible, because they couldn't do that unless they went back in time in 2004? The answer is a wormhole.
Theoretically the exit to a wormhole could be built now, and the entrance at a later date, and anyone going in the entrance would pop out the exit. The relevant thing is that, as soon as you opened the exit, whoever went through the entrance would immediately pop out! They would be there ORIGINALLY even though they hadn't technically gone through the wormhole yet!
A wormhole also fits with the 305 degree bearing being necessary to leave the Island. The exit to a wormhole theoretically would act somewhat like flypaper, preventing anyone from leaving (think about trying to swim through really really dense water). However, it is possible that there would be a narrow area similar to the eye of a needle through which a person could leave the area surrounding the wormhole. This to me explains the 305 degree necessity as well as the rocket experiment: it wasn't on the right bearing, and it took longer to get through the "denser" space surrounding the "eye of the needle". It's like if you poke a hole through a marshmallow and then blow a toothpick through a straw at it: if it goes through the hole it will be much quicker than if it hits the marshmallow (I know this isn't a perfect analogy but I'm trying to explain/understand really complicated ideas).
On a related note, the Casimir effect apparently opens up the possibility that energy which exists in a vacuum could be tapped to create an unlimited supply. To me this seems to explain the "energy" of the Island and why it needed to be discharged every 108 minutes. I also think that perhaps Jughead is needed in some way to "tap" the energy created by the Casimir effect.
Whew! I know that was a dense one, and I really don't claim to be an expert, but I thought after reading some that time dilation seemed to be off the table but that a wormhole seems more likely than ever. I think its even possible that the exit opens and closes at different times. There could be a complex wormhole with exits in different time periods on the Island, which would allow travelers from the future to be spit out in different times. I'm not sure all the technical stuff is right, but I mean the writers aren't astrophysicists either, ya know? Theory by ivey_driveshaft
