Can you change the past? A point of much debate.
On the fictional TV show "LOST" can you change the past? A point of MUCH debate. The truth, presumably, only known by the writers/producers who created that truth.
More importantly, perhaps, can you change the past, but when you do, things self-corect so that the outcome is the same? Wouldn't this both support and deny WH,H? A paradox about a paradox?
But even more importantly, perhaps, as articulated by Kate in several ways, SHOULD you change the past? Won't that just erase everything?
The current debate is not winnable, and may never be. Let's take, for the main event, the crash of flight 815. It already happened. We saw it happen. The characters experienced it. But what if they can use the bomb to make it not crash? WH didn't H, but in a new timeline. If 815 still crashes however, and this is important, will that be proof to anyone that WH,H? Will people say, "Okay, so they failed to prevent 815 from crashing, but that doesn't mean they COULDN'T have prevented it from crashing." No one will admit defeat or can assume victory in this debate, regardless of what happens (unless the producers issue a statement).
"That doesn't mean they COULDN'T have prevented it." Perhaps, perhaps not. But SHOULD they have prevented it? SHOULD they have tried? Or did they always try to prevent it?
So far everything that has happened, has happened. Eloise knew Daniel would be shot by her. He was wrong in saying Kate and Jack shouldn't be there; without them, he would never have gotten past the barrier and found the Hostiles. I still want to know how the heck Daniel knew the future! He knew WHAT the Incident was, he knew WHEN it was. How?
Fortunately, this whole debate over WH,H and WHdH/Timeline will likely be irrelevant come next season. Why? Because most of the characters are in their own present. And in that present, whatever happened HASN'T HAPPENED YET. Yippee! Locke, Ben, Sun, Illiana... they are all in 2007. Eloise and Widmore are in 2007. Eloise saying she doesn't know what happens "next" means that the loop, the repeating history that she knows of, is over. From here on out, it's all new stuff. Daniel was wrong, but he wants to be right; his mother sent Kate and Jack back to make SURE that Daniel got to the camp and got shot.
Jack, Kate, Daniel, Hurley, Miles, etc. may be in 1977, but that's their present. It's the same age they would be in 2007. If everyone had been wearing a digital watch this whole time, EVERYONE'S digital watch would read "2007" right now. That's why Jack can die, that's why Daniel can die (and may be dead).
Is it a coincidence that when Jack and company arrived on the island, it was exactly the same amount of time that the other survivors had been there? Three years? Do people from the same timeline have to end up in the same place (provided they aren't "skipping" crazily through time, like when Sawyer saw Kate during a flash).
So what if Daniel's plan doesn't work? Will anyone abandon their WH,H or anti-WH,H stance? Probably not; people hold on to them like religion.
And what if Daniel's plan does work? But then they go back and "fix" all that they un-did ("we never should have left the island" becomes "we never should have stopped the Incident") and they make sure the incident does happen, so that 815 will crash. Will that prove WH,H to anyone? Probably not.
So let's focus on what the show is really about... it's not about WH,H, it's about people. And their choices. And it's about the upcoming war (probably) and it's about how/when/where/why the 1977'ers and the 2007'ers (all of whom are of their 2007 age) will converge/meet/crash into each other/have a party with an inappropriate theme/meet for coffee.
Will they meet? Will they meet in 2007? Will they meet in 1977? In 2037? And whose side will everyone be on in the war that's about to happen?
I can't imagine that all of the 815 survivors will be left out of that war. And I can't imagine that all of the 815 survivors will even be on the same side in that war.
Can you?
On the fictional TV show "LOST" can you change the past? A point of MUCH debate. The truth, presumably, only known by the writers/producers who created that truth.
More importantly, perhaps, can you change the past, but when you do, things self-corect so that the outcome is the same? Wouldn't this both support and deny WH,H? A paradox about a paradox?
But even more importantly, perhaps, as articulated by Kate in several ways, SHOULD you change the past? Won't that just erase everything?
The current debate is not winnable, and may never be. Let's take, for the main event, the crash of flight 815. It already happened. We saw it happen. The characters experienced it. But what if they can use the bomb to make it not crash? WH didn't H, but in a new timeline. If 815 still crashes however, and this is important, will that be proof to anyone that WH,H? Will people say, "Okay, so they failed to prevent 815 from crashing, but that doesn't mean they COULDN'T have prevented it from crashing." No one will admit defeat or can assume victory in this debate, regardless of what happens (unless the producers issue a statement).
"That doesn't mean they COULDN'T have prevented it." Perhaps, perhaps not. But SHOULD they have prevented it? SHOULD they have tried? Or did they always try to prevent it?
So far everything that has happened, has happened. Eloise knew Daniel would be shot by her. He was wrong in saying Kate and Jack shouldn't be there; without them, he would never have gotten past the barrier and found the Hostiles. I still want to know how the heck Daniel knew the future! He knew WHAT the Incident was, he knew WHEN it was. How?
Fortunately, this whole debate over WH,H and WHdH/Timeline will likely be irrelevant come next season. Why? Because most of the characters are in their own present. And in that present, whatever happened HASN'T HAPPENED YET. Yippee! Locke, Ben, Sun, Illiana... they are all in 2007. Eloise and Widmore are in 2007. Eloise saying she doesn't know what happens "next" means that the loop, the repeating history that she knows of, is over. From here on out, it's all new stuff. Daniel was wrong, but he wants to be right; his mother sent Kate and Jack back to make SURE that Daniel got to the camp and got shot.
Jack, Kate, Daniel, Hurley, Miles, etc. may be in 1977, but that's their present. It's the same age they would be in 2007. If everyone had been wearing a digital watch this whole time, EVERYONE'S digital watch would read "2007" right now. That's why Jack can die, that's why Daniel can die (and may be dead).
Is it a coincidence that when Jack and company arrived on the island, it was exactly the same amount of time that the other survivors had been there? Three years? Do people from the same timeline have to end up in the same place (provided they aren't "skipping" crazily through time, like when Sawyer saw Kate during a flash).
So what if Daniel's plan doesn't work? Will anyone abandon their WH,H or anti-WH,H stance? Probably not; people hold on to them like religion.
And what if Daniel's plan does work? But then they go back and "fix" all that they un-did ("we never should have left the island" becomes "we never should have stopped the Incident") and they make sure the incident does happen, so that 815 will crash. Will that prove WH,H to anyone? Probably not.
So let's focus on what the show is really about... it's not about WH,H, it's about people. And their choices. And it's about the upcoming war (probably) and it's about how/when/where/why the 1977'ers and the 2007'ers (all of whom are of their 2007 age) will converge/meet/crash into each other/have a party with an inappropriate theme/meet for coffee.
Will they meet? Will they meet in 2007? Will they meet in 1977? In 2037? And whose side will everyone be on in the war that's about to happen?
I can't imagine that all of the 815 survivors will be left out of that war. And I can't imagine that all of the 815 survivors will even be on the same side in that war.
Can you?
