The Single Universe Model by Marcus

If we live in a single universe, then free will and time travel cannot coexist; it’s a physical as well as a logical impossibility. From the very moment you introduce a time machine into a single universe model, everything that happens from that point onward is predetermined. Why? Because a time traveller from the future can access any point of your future. For example, let’s say I invent a time machine, at that very moment it’s created, my future becomes a reality, since I can travel from the present into the future and vice versa. If my future is real, then all my present actions must be predetermined. So for our losties, the very moment they crash landed on the island, their destiny was instantly created. This is why WHH and trying to change things is a waste of time). This theory only applies to a single universe model remember, and if Darlton has chosen just one universe , then WHH definitely.

The trouble is, people like the idea of time travel, but they also like the idea of free will too. So to have both exist simultaneously, scientists invented a theory called the many universes model. This is fine if you like ALT, but in reality, it’s difficult to comprehend a new universe being created for every decision we make.

I think Darlton understand this time travel/destiny/freewill problem and in my opinion, opted for the single universe model. This is consistent with what we’ve seen over the past 5 seasons and also fits with the WHH Daniel Faraday theory. Another point that supports lost being set in a single universe is the aging problem. If you have just one universe and an object is set in a loop, such as the compass, then that object cannot age at all. Think about this, if it were to, then it would eventually be destroyed and therefore break the loop, which would mean that WHH did not happen, which we know is impossible for the single universe model.

This is also the reason why Richard Alpert cannot age, even though its his present. This is difficult to explain but here goes. Let’s say a person from the future visits me, his name is Jacob, and tells me that I will die in 2050. I ask how he knows, he says were friends and that is the year the world ends. I freak out, and jump into my time machine, travelling back 100 years to 1909, at this point my aging must stop, even though its my present. Why? Because I know I live until 2050 and since the future cannot change in a single universe model, I cannot age again until the year 2009, since i cannot die until 2050 im effectively immortal with fate keeping me alive. I hope this makes sense. Anyway this is what’s happening to Richard, he’s immortal and won’t age again until he’s reached the year when he passed through the time storm. I think there is no doubt at all that he was on the Black rock and passed through the time storm into the future, he didn’t travel ba! ck he travelled forward, but the same rules still apply. The reason his mind is ok is because Jacob is his constant and made some kind of physical contact before he got too the island or he lucked out and entered the island on the correct bearing. It’s the same with Liana, she passed through the time storm, fully conscious, the reason she isn’t experiencing any mind flashes is because Jacob is her constant.

So if lost has just a single universe, then how does jughead change things?

This was the big question and almost impossible to answer using a single universe model, but then i started thinking about the energies involved down at the swan site. There were two massive amounts of energy released at exactly the same time. I think this is the key here, the timing, Jack knew, from Faradays journal, when the swan site was going to explode. So by detonating jughead at exactly the same time, he’s released an energy, which could’ve been great enough to create a small, temporary, unstable mini universe, not an actual new universe entirely, but more a temporary structure called a bubbleverse, which is stuck onto our single lost universe. I believe this is where Jack and co have been temporarily sent for the start of season 6, it will be confusing at first. Some strange things could happen, and I think jack and co will have to achieve something, or change something, before they are allowed back into the lost universe, and all against the clock too, as the! unstable bubbleverse could collapse at any time.