The Science of Lost by TheFlow

Approx. 3 weeks ago, I pulished a theory “The island is an Einstein-Rosen-Bridge” (btw. thanks for the comments to that theory – I really appreciated your input). This theory is a reworked version with new insights in the physics of the island.

But for all, who haven’t read my previous theory, I will repeat some of the scientific backgrounds, so you can understand, where I’m going to in my conclusions.

I am aware, that all those things in Lost with time travel and alternate universes have not been proven by science yet, but there are models like “if time travel was possible in the future, it must follow certain rules and would have certain consequences”. So everything I’m going to say is based on current knowledge and commonly accepted scientific theories. The writers have shown so far, that they try to follow these rules and whenever they came up with a scientific explanation of a Lost mystery, it was very accurate and in accordance with the laws of physics.

All right, here we go:

1. THE PROBLEMS WITH TIME TRAVEL:

The most common problem with time travel is known as the “grandfather paradox”. If you change the past, you would change the present as well, which means, that you might not be able to time travel from the present to the past any more. In 1957, scientist Hugh Everett published his “Theory of the universal wave function” which was an attempt, to solve the problem of “Schroedinger’s Cat” (more on that to follow). The idea is, that at any point, where events have been able to develop differently, a parallel universe would be created. If you apply this idea to time travel, it means, that if you change something in the past, the result would be two universes: one, in which the change hasn’t occurred, and one resulting in the things you have changed. This became known as the “Many Worlds Theory”.

2. SCHROEDINGER’S CAT AND QUANTUM SUICIDE:

In 1935, Austrian physicist Erwin Schroedinger published a concept in order to explain the effects of quantum physics in the macrocosm. It says: A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of the hour, one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges, and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. As long as you haven’t opened the chamber, you don’t know, whether the cat is dead or alive. Thus, two quantum waves exists (as possibilities), the cat is neither dead nor alive, but undead. In the very second, when you open the chamber, one wave collapses and the other becomes the truth.
Of course, this is just a model – there is no such thing than a cat half dead and half alive. But in 1987, scientist Hans Moravec applied the Many Worlds Theory on Schroedinger’s Cat, creating the concept of “Quantum Suicide”. In this model, the observer is not outside the experiment, but part of it. In the chamber, there is a scientist, we still have the radioactive substance, the Geiger counter and a nuclear bomb(!). When the Geiger counter detects the atom decay, the bomb will explode. In a Many Worlds Interpretation, this will create one universe, in which the scientist survives (for the bomb doesn’t explode) and another universe, where the scientist dies (the bomb explodes). So: no more wave forms and no more universes collapsing, because of an observer from outside the experiment. This concept became known as “Quantum Suicide”.

3. HOW A NEW UNIVERSE IS BORN:

In 2003, mathematican Blake Temple published a theory, that our universe wasn’t born in a “Big Bang”, but came out of a white hole. The Big Bang theory has a major problem: what was before the Big Bang and where did all the matter in our universe come from.
White Holes are hypothetically persumed to be the exit of a black hole. A black hole drains matter (and maybe even time) from a universe, it is some kind of an exit of this universe. If it is connected to a white hole, this white hole would work as the exit of this connection, where all the matter (and maybe time) comes out again. This would be in accordance with Einstein’s equations in the General Theory of Relativity. The connection would be very instabile, but physicist Kip Thorne persumed, that it could be stabilized by the so called “exotic negative matter”, which has a negative particle/energy density, which could stand the pressure of collapse between the two holes (using what is known as the “Casimir Effect”). This connection is known in science as the “Einstein-Rosen-Bridge”, or more popular, as a “Wormhole”. It only works in one direction (from the black hole to the white hole), and it might be very small. If too much matter would get into the bla! ck hole, it could make the wormhole destabilize under its own weight. Also: if a universe expands too fast, it would be disrupted by the speed of expansion, therefore cease to exist.

It is persumed that wormholes can be used to travel in space, in time and between universes. Wormholes can be stationary (i.e., that they always connect between the same times / points in space) or can float in time and space, allowing you to go to different places or times. The effect of the latter would be, that after a wormhole has been “installed”, it immediately would have always existed (this sounds weird, but is a logical consequence).

Side-note: although it has not been found yet, it is persumed, that exotic negative matter also has an antigrav effect. Think of a balloon: if you inflate it with normal air, it will sink to the ground, but if you inflate it with hydroxygen or helium, it will float or fly, because the matter inside the balloon has a lower density than the air surrounding the balloon, thus the balloon weighs less. The exotic negative matter has a negative density, therefore also a negative weight and will always weigh less than normal matter surrounding it.
Stephen Hawking has proved that negative energy (e.g. from exotic matter) is a necessary condition for the creation of a closed timelike curve by manipulation of gravitational fields within a finite region of space.

Another side-note: notice, that the theory of our universe being born in a white hole has been published only a few months before Abrams and Lindelof started developing Lost. Imho, it’s is very likely to believe, that this theory has inspired Lost.

4. WHY MULTIPLE UNIVERSES COULD BE NECESSARY TO EXIST:

One very interesting fact about our universe is, that the nature constants (gravitation, expansion rate of the universe, fine-structure constant, weak and strong interaction, electromagnetism etc) are JUST PERFECT for a universe to exist. Even slight changes in these constants would result in an impossibility for a universe to exist – or at least, the universe would look very differently to ours.
The is a theory, that universes are born all the time, but most of them do not live very long, for the values of the CONSTANTS (which become VARIABLES in a multiverse!) in these universes are not suitable for the universe to survive. Only those universes, in which the values of the constants match perfectly, will survive.
Side-note: a couple of years ago, a theory was published, that also our universe will be destroyed soon, because the expansion rate is accellerating since the beginning of our universe. In a near future (a couple of million years – yes, that’s a “near” future, if you think in cosmic dimensions), the expansion will become too fast, the universe will be disrupted, collapse into a giant black hole, which (through a white hole) gives birth to a new universe with different parameters.

5. HOW TO RECOGNIZE, THAT THERE IS A PARALLEL UNIVERSE:

Under normal circumstances, you are not able to become aware of parallel universes. But in quantum physics, you have the phenomenon of wave interference. If you apply this on the Many Worlds Theory, it means, that if THE SAME THING happens in both universes but because of DIFFERENT REASONS, there will be an event interference. Someone, who observes this event will have some kind of a déjà vu, making him doubt, that the things he sees really are, how he sees them.


Enough for the scientific backgrounds, here’s how they explain Lost (at some points, I’m not sure yet, so I will offer different explanations):

The explosion of jughead was a Quantum Suicide. It created two universes: one, in which the bomb didn’t explode (the WHH timeline) and one, in which it did (the FSW). Because in FSW there were already versions of themselves, the Losties returned to 2007 in WHH.

When jughead exploded in FSW, it neutralized most of (but not everything) the exotic negative matter on the island (we have heard of it existing on the island in the orchid orientation video) there, making it finally sink (the island cannot ever have been bound to solid ground, for – as we know – it is able to travel in time as well as in space (its position permanently changes)). This process might have taken some time, enough for the DI to leave.

In WHH, the DI learned about the exotic negative matter and the wormhole and also about the parallel universe. They also learned about the fact, that their universe was doomed to be destroyed, so what did they do? They installed some kind of a valve between the universe, which became known as “the button”. This fulfilled two purposes: the WHH could be vented continously, slowing down the expansion of the universe (and thus saving the WHH universe) and it was assured, that not too much matter (and time) entered the wormhole at once, so it couldn’t collapse.
Why am I sure, that we are dealing with a wormhole? Well, Daniels diary is full of diagrams and formulas dealing with wormhole theory, like the Eddington-Finkelstein-Equation and Schwartzschild geometrics – that is the major clue!

But the FSW isn’t the first attempt to save the universe – it has been done many times before. And with the big nature constants being changed again and again, also the small constants might have been changed. Remember: DI’s idea was, to somehow change the parameters of the Valenzetti equation in order to save the world. Now, we know that the value 23 of this equation is somehow attached to Jack. When the plane crashed in S1, he was sitting in row 23. But in FSW, he is sitting in row 24. So this value of the equations has changed in FSW, thus the end of the world/universe might have been prevented now.

Remember, when Jacob told Richard about the evil that is trapped in the bottle and the island is the cork, that prevents evil from escaping? What if WHH is the bottle? MiB is trapped in WHH and is not supposed to go to FSW. The island is the passage between the two universes as well as the cork. If we can prevent MiB from leaving the island towards the FSW universe, this could become a universe without evil. But currently, we still find evil in FSW. This is, because the outcome of the final battle between Jacob and MiB has not been determined yet, both quantum states are still intact. If Jacob succeeds, all evil will suddenly vanish from FSW – yet, if this would be paradise is another question.

The point where you become aware of the other universe is, when you come across events, that have also happened in the other universe, but due to different circumstances. We see this all the time in the FSW. Jack’s appendix scar was the first clue, and the really big one was when Desmond remembered Charlie from the WHH when he was about to drown in the car in FSW. All Desmond has to do now is to show/remind the Losties in FSW (of) these parallel events – and they will start to remember WHH.

One big question is, who built the FDW. I would say: it has not been built yet – at least in our subjective timeline. Remember, that the wormhole is floating – so if the FDW is still to be built, it can nevertheless already exist. The building of the FDW (and thus the construction of the wormhole) in the future (maybe even in a distant future) causes, that it already always has been existing! (This is really weird, but in accordance with the mechanics of time).

What about Desmond? Why is he so special?
He is the one, who can see through the universes. That makes him the observer from the outside, who can make one universe collapse and the other survive.
When he failed to push the button in WHH (causing the plane to crash), the effect was so strong, that it also affected the FSW universe. Remember, that in LA X the plane went through some very heavy turbulences. But because the island was under water there, most of the electromagnetic energy was absorbed, so the plane was not harmed. But the wormhole is still intact in FSW, just under water.
When Des turned the failsafe key, he vented the exotic negative matter from the wormhole, sealing it. No more need to push the button, but also the deathblow for WHH universe (because the expansion will accellerate again, for it still drains matter and time from another universe – the one where it came from) unless someone turns the FDW again (the other way to vent the universe). We already saw the effect of this acceleration: when the helicopter came to the island for the first time, it was a flight of not even half an hour, but when it returned, it took almost two hours. And the doctor’s corpsed was washed ashore the island even before he had been murdered on the freighter. The island was already getting out of sync with the rest of the universe. This could lead to the assumption, that we have both wormholes on the island: the black hole that drains matter and time to the FSW universe as well as the white hole, that delivers matter and time from the former universe, wh! ere WHH came from. So the island would be the beginning and the end of everything (literally as well as factual).


Some thoughts/speculations on Jacob and MiB:

Jacob told Richard, that he cannot bring Isabella back, nor can he forgive Richard’s sins. But he can give life – eternal life.
There have been many theories, that Jacob and MiB are gods. I doubt that, because a god should be able to bring back the dead and to forgive someone’s sins. Imho, Jacob is human, but has the power to give life (except one is dead already). MiB’s job is to take it. Who assigned them with these jobs? Well, someone establishes the wormhole, goes back in time, finds, that due to the laws of time mechanics, the wormhole already exists there. The FDW is built and the time traveler dies (because of which circumstances we will have to find out). But before he dies, he became father of two children – Jacob and MiB, who then had to take over the duty to protect the wormhole. Thus, they start experimenting with the wormhole (for they soon become tired of their duty) resulting in an incident, that gives Jacob immortality and some other powers and causes MiB to loose his body and his humanity. What is MiB? Is he maybe exotic negative matter? Why doesn’t he (seem to) exist in FSW?! Maybe in this universe the electromagnetic constant is slightly different, resulting an an inability for Smokey to exist?

Now regard the island as a model for the whole world or even the universe. You have an entrance to the world (birth) and an exit (death). What comes in, must come out again. As long, as there is a beginning, there must also be an end – as long as Jacob is there, MiB cannot leave. MiB’s only chance to leave the island is to stop Jacob from bringing people there.

Maybe not only the island, but the whole WHH universe is a huge wormhole itsself, draining existence from another universe (the one, where our existence once came from, the previous attempt in saving the existence of everything) and losing it again to the FSW. O.K., this is very speculative…

Another idea: if (as I persumed above) the island is not only the exit TO another universe, but also the entrance FROM another 3rd universe, it could also well be, that the FDW is the valve at the entrance from this 3rd universe. When you open it, time drains in from the other universe, allowing you to time travel. So the FDW would not have been built from someone from future WHH, but from someone from the former universe, in order to protect his universe from being drained (or at least to control the process, or to create a universe after his own rules (now this is something for those, who believe in creationism!)). By using the FDW again and again, our universe has been endangered, because the matter/time drained inside has been the original cause of the acceleration of the expansion of WHH.

We have come across so many references to mythologies and religions from all over the world on the island. We also know, that people have been coming to the islands for many many years. Some of them might have left again, telling people all over the world what they have seen / experienced. This would cause religions to develop, because apparently nobody would have been able to understand the science of the island.
People from ancient Egypt might have learned, that the island is a place, where you can meet the dead, where you get a chance for redemption and maybe can go for another life. This might have inspired the Taweret cult.
When people saw the eternal fight between Jacob and MiB (for them, between good and evil), this inspired religious beliefs like Zorastrian religion (a war between a creator and a destroyer until a final battle, which will be followed by the kingdom of heaven), which also influenced Jewish and Christian beliefs. The temple and the significance of the ash are also hints on Zoroastrism. The experience of a lost paradise inspired the Christian idea of a Garden Eden. Btw: look at the symbol at the top of Jacobs weaving in “The incident”: it is the symbol of Zoroastrism).
Also eastern religions/philosophies have been influenced. The idea of been reborn in a new existence inspired the idea of reincarnation, a cycle that you have to break in order to find Nirvana. The FDW is an exact copy of the Dharma (!) Wheel, the Hindu/Buddhistic symbol of reincarnation. The wheels is turned, and you go to a new life, a new existence.
There are lots of other references to numerous religions, I just picked the major ones.

Science is the cause – religion (faith) is the effect!


My predictions on how it will end:

I don’t think, that the universes can merge again. One will survive, the other will be destroyed (by Desmond?). The big question is, which is the universe to survive. On one hand, we could have a universe, where everything goes well, a world without evil, but is it that, what we desire? Or would we chose a universe, that is not perfect, where there’s always struggle and pain, but which feels real? (Now this would be something VERY philosophical: would you chose to live in the Garden of Eden, if you had the choice?)
Or will it be possible, that at least the souls/minds can merge in one universe, that the conciuosness of our Losties will get a chance to go to FSW and WHH will finally cease to exist? Or the other way round??
Hard to say – but there’s one interesting fact: other than the Losties in FSW, those in WHH (except for Des) don’t seem to have the potential to become aware of the other universe. So if Desmond tells them, that they have to destroy their own universe, so the other can survive / come true for them, they will have to trust him. They will have to have faith, cannot rely on science, and have to make the ultimate sacrifice – for the survival of the other world/universe/existence.


Finally, I hear you ask:

But how are the writers supposed to explain all this in the remaining episodes (and there are still lots of other mysteries left to be solved)?

They don’t have to! At least, they don’t need to explain it all. Come on, why did abc launch the “Lost University”, with all its lectures on quantum physics, time travel and all the rest? It’s for those, who want to understand the background, the laws of the Lost universe. It’s for us freaks, who like to theorize and discuss, in order to find answers.
But in the series, it will be enough to say, that there are parallel universes because auf the incident, MiB has to be stopped to save the world, time travels were possible through a wormhole and that WHH and FSW are only serial numbers in a large sequence of experiments. That would be enough for most viewers. Not explaining all details also leaves room for those, who want a religious or philosophical ending, something that cannot be explained, but you need to believe in (the “faith ending”). And for all those, who want to know the details (like (as I guess) most of us on this website), it won’t be difficult to find them on the internet (almost everything in my theory can be found on wikipedia). This is the reason, why they have to follow the known laws or accepted theories of science (as I stated at the beginning of this theory) – otherwise hardcore fans would find the ending to be unsatisfactory.

Congratulations, that you have made it that far – I know, this was a really long theory. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Can’t await your comments!