I think that people are getting a bit carried away with all the super natural connections here. There is no way, with the intelligent manner in which Lost has been written so far, that there will be any involvement of super powers, demi gods, or whatever other absurd things forum posts have been suggesting. Making Jacob an ancient eqyptian god with superpowers is no less of a cop-out than making the island the creation of aliens trying to run a human experiment.
Furthermore, relying on biblical and other analogies to try and predict the direction of Lost’s plot is also useless. Sure, Lost intelligently intertwines references from just about every academic discipline (philosophy, physics, religion, etc), and true, these are meant to give subtle hints, but that is the extent of it. They are not going to copy something exactly that has already been done, and in fact most of it is probably just to distract people, inspire confusion, and get people discussing and promoting Lost in their everyday lives.
The reality is, that every crazy thing that happens in Lost (time travel, the web of coincidental incidents, human kind’s extreme interest and search for the island etc.) is based on the electro magnetism that gives the Island its special properties. Because of some physics-derived reason, there is a connection between electro magnetism and time travel that obviously must be somehow reasonably justified in order for them to base the entire premise of the show on it. Now unless electromagnetism also is connected to super powers, then it is unlikely that Jacob is some sort of god.
Jacob is either from the future, from the past, or some sort of God. Since we have ruled out God, based on its ridiculousness, we can rule out past based on the fact that Jacob does not age, and can’t die (barring a loophole in which the time-space continuum is manipulated – ie Black shirt man was given an opportunity to “manipulate” it when the Oceanic Six was catapulted through time), which are both suggestive that he exists in the future (further backed up by the fact that no one who was transported back to 1977 has aged or been able to die yet, Richard says that it is unnecessary for Eloise to shoot Farraday even though Farraday would have shot him etc.)
The broad overview of my theory is that the island existed in solitude until Jacob and Black shirt man, who are scientists from the future, are the victims of a time travel experiment gone wrong (they didn’t understand the implications of what they were about to do – ie messing with the time-space continuum). I am no physics expert, but I would assume that the unravelling of the time-space continuum had to start at some static reference point in the future, and I am assuming that Jacob’s failed experiment is the catalyst.
SO:
In the beginning there was an island that was located over a huge pocket of electro magnetism. NOTHING occurs until, let’s say, 3000, when Jacob has the proper technology to locate it, but his experiment to invent a method for time travel using the Island's energy goes wrong. Before the “incident” the electro magnetism was untapped, and therefore would be pretty impossible for a group of scientists, in 1977, to find with their limited technologies. As we are finding out, the incident, the plane crash and everything else that occurred on the island is a result of future meddling. I am just extending this logic to begin with Jacob. As a result, Jacob’s experiment unleashes the unravelling of the web that disrupts the time-space continuum. Jacob, now stuck in the past with nothing to do but wait until 3000 (or whenever it is he is from) begins attracting people to the island because, as is suggested in the finale, he seems to have a faith in humanity and their ability t! o harness the power of the island for good. He attracts the Dharma Initiative with this hope, which obviously bothers black shirt man, who obviously shares a significantly more pessimistic view of human kind and their corruptive nature. However, YOU CAN’T CHANGE THE PAST (as is further suggested by the fact that Farraday dies like he is supposed to, and Miles’ theory about the incident), and by attracting people to the island Jacob has unravelled the time-space continuum, as previously no humans had found the island. Therefore, Lost is really about the universe correcting itself and going through the process that Jacob has messed up. Each person is following their “destiny” in that they have to follow a specific path in order to get back to their "future."
Now obviously this theory has some holes: its “realistic” nature would not allow it to explain such things as the smoke monster and the ability of black shirt man to jump from body to body, or how Richard is the way he is because of Jacob. I would suggest that, the answer to these questions however, is not, “well, the black shirt dude has super powers” but is probably something to do with his ability to harness the electromagnetic energy. Furthermore, Richard could have been a scientist with them who did not want to part of the experiment but was forced in by Jacob, hence why Jacob “made him” like that (and explains his inability to age).
The main drive of this theory is the following logic: If everything that is happening right now, whether it be 1977 or 2007, actually occurred in Jacob’s past (ie the island was not isolated from humans and this theory is horribly wrong), then when does the “future” begin? Someone’s past is always another person’s future, and the cycle continues forever, with the universe never “correcting” itself (eg. Jack and Kate’s future is still Jacob’s past, and therefore their actions are still “destined” to happen because they had to in order to set of a chain of events that lead to the world being the way it is in Jacob’s future). However, I chose to think of what is happening in Lost as “mean-reverting” i.e. you can change something in the short term, but in the end the universe will correct itself and go back to its equilibrium course without allowing for any major changes (ie people dying, certain major events not occurring etc.
You might ask, "Why can't it be that everything DID happen in Jacob's past and everything in the Losties past and future IS "destined" to happen?" I would offer this answer. The finale suggests that Jacob in some manner is responsible for everyone being on the island. Since his inability to age suggests he is from the future, then he is currently in his past, and has manipulated other lives in a past he is not supposed to be part of. If he is RESPONSIBLE for bringing these people to the island in a time period he is not supposed to exist in then by definition, he is altering the past and setting off a chain of events that will change the world at the time period of his future. Therefore, as is a major theme in the show, there has to be some sort of correcting force.
This theory is by no means all-encompassing, and was meant to inspire a dialogue, not prescribe a right answer.
Furthermore, relying on biblical and other analogies to try and predict the direction of Lost’s plot is also useless. Sure, Lost intelligently intertwines references from just about every academic discipline (philosophy, physics, religion, etc), and true, these are meant to give subtle hints, but that is the extent of it. They are not going to copy something exactly that has already been done, and in fact most of it is probably just to distract people, inspire confusion, and get people discussing and promoting Lost in their everyday lives.
The reality is, that every crazy thing that happens in Lost (time travel, the web of coincidental incidents, human kind’s extreme interest and search for the island etc.) is based on the electro magnetism that gives the Island its special properties. Because of some physics-derived reason, there is a connection between electro magnetism and time travel that obviously must be somehow reasonably justified in order for them to base the entire premise of the show on it. Now unless electromagnetism also is connected to super powers, then it is unlikely that Jacob is some sort of god.
Jacob is either from the future, from the past, or some sort of God. Since we have ruled out God, based on its ridiculousness, we can rule out past based on the fact that Jacob does not age, and can’t die (barring a loophole in which the time-space continuum is manipulated – ie Black shirt man was given an opportunity to “manipulate” it when the Oceanic Six was catapulted through time), which are both suggestive that he exists in the future (further backed up by the fact that no one who was transported back to 1977 has aged or been able to die yet, Richard says that it is unnecessary for Eloise to shoot Farraday even though Farraday would have shot him etc.)
The broad overview of my theory is that the island existed in solitude until Jacob and Black shirt man, who are scientists from the future, are the victims of a time travel experiment gone wrong (they didn’t understand the implications of what they were about to do – ie messing with the time-space continuum). I am no physics expert, but I would assume that the unravelling of the time-space continuum had to start at some static reference point in the future, and I am assuming that Jacob’s failed experiment is the catalyst.
SO:
In the beginning there was an island that was located over a huge pocket of electro magnetism. NOTHING occurs until, let’s say, 3000, when Jacob has the proper technology to locate it, but his experiment to invent a method for time travel using the Island's energy goes wrong. Before the “incident” the electro magnetism was untapped, and therefore would be pretty impossible for a group of scientists, in 1977, to find with their limited technologies. As we are finding out, the incident, the plane crash and everything else that occurred on the island is a result of future meddling. I am just extending this logic to begin with Jacob. As a result, Jacob’s experiment unleashes the unravelling of the web that disrupts the time-space continuum. Jacob, now stuck in the past with nothing to do but wait until 3000 (or whenever it is he is from) begins attracting people to the island because, as is suggested in the finale, he seems to have a faith in humanity and their ability t! o harness the power of the island for good. He attracts the Dharma Initiative with this hope, which obviously bothers black shirt man, who obviously shares a significantly more pessimistic view of human kind and their corruptive nature. However, YOU CAN’T CHANGE THE PAST (as is further suggested by the fact that Farraday dies like he is supposed to, and Miles’ theory about the incident), and by attracting people to the island Jacob has unravelled the time-space continuum, as previously no humans had found the island. Therefore, Lost is really about the universe correcting itself and going through the process that Jacob has messed up. Each person is following their “destiny” in that they have to follow a specific path in order to get back to their "future."
Now obviously this theory has some holes: its “realistic” nature would not allow it to explain such things as the smoke monster and the ability of black shirt man to jump from body to body, or how Richard is the way he is because of Jacob. I would suggest that, the answer to these questions however, is not, “well, the black shirt dude has super powers” but is probably something to do with his ability to harness the electromagnetic energy. Furthermore, Richard could have been a scientist with them who did not want to part of the experiment but was forced in by Jacob, hence why Jacob “made him” like that (and explains his inability to age).
The main drive of this theory is the following logic: If everything that is happening right now, whether it be 1977 or 2007, actually occurred in Jacob’s past (ie the island was not isolated from humans and this theory is horribly wrong), then when does the “future” begin? Someone’s past is always another person’s future, and the cycle continues forever, with the universe never “correcting” itself (eg. Jack and Kate’s future is still Jacob’s past, and therefore their actions are still “destined” to happen because they had to in order to set of a chain of events that lead to the world being the way it is in Jacob’s future). However, I chose to think of what is happening in Lost as “mean-reverting” i.e. you can change something in the short term, but in the end the universe will correct itself and go back to its equilibrium course without allowing for any major changes (ie people dying, certain major events not occurring etc.
You might ask, "Why can't it be that everything DID happen in Jacob's past and everything in the Losties past and future IS "destined" to happen?" I would offer this answer. The finale suggests that Jacob in some manner is responsible for everyone being on the island. Since his inability to age suggests he is from the future, then he is currently in his past, and has manipulated other lives in a past he is not supposed to be part of. If he is RESPONSIBLE for bringing these people to the island in a time period he is not supposed to exist in then by definition, he is altering the past and setting off a chain of events that will change the world at the time period of his future. Therefore, as is a major theme in the show, there has to be some sort of correcting force.
This theory is by no means all-encompassing, and was meant to inspire a dialogue, not prescribe a right answer.
