Ages of Man by Mike Ventimiglia

If you consider the origins of universe and the evolutions of consciousness (after reading), then the answer becomes much clearer.

First, consider the numbers, 4,8,15,16,23,42. You can render them pointless, or try to find a reason for them. What I’ve found, is that each number (and subsequently the character), corresponds to a chemical element represented on the periodic table not exactly a “candidate” system. I’ll come back to why that is important.

Hesiod outlined the Ages of Man in ‘Works and Days’ , which was thought to be the stages of human existence. The origin of the universe is believed to be at the Big Bang, which essentially created the most fundamental and abundant element, Hydrogen. The island becomes the electron and in turn, “Hydra Island” becomes the nucleus it is revolving around. It wasn’t until I went back and watched that I noticed that island is always moving in relation to Hydra. This is really when the roots of western philosophy were plant. When you start to draw parallels between the Golden Age and the story-lines on Lost, you start to make more sense of the theory that, existence developed along a single line (string), and the our consciousness developed with that initial frame of reference. These parallels can relate everything to the conflict of man.

Following Hesiod’s timeline, it essential morphs from Homer’s work, The Illiad, and The Odyssey through the beginning of the Bronze Age. In the Bronze Age, man came undone, it was war, violence, and “left no named spirits but dwell in Hades.’ Homer’s myth is built upon by Ovid in ‘Metamorphoses,’ but he outlines four, not five, stages. They meet again on what is the Iron Age.

Through each of these ages, human consciousness develops further, becoming more complex. We go further, we dig deeper, and ultimately we become the biggest threat to evolution. It is also interesting to note that, it is in this period Zeus’s Xenia, a social contract between guest and host, begins to be ignored. This is where I think the true story of Lost communes.

The promo for next week, essentially consisted of two clips. One is of Locke playing backgammon with Walt. The other, Jacob playing backgammon with “MiB.” This was significant in that it shed some light on the conflict between the two, and why it’s important. Because ultimately I think the show is a game of backgammon, though only through metaphor. They are using the people that come to the island as pieces, and using the scientific properties of the island itself as the game board.

I think what will be revealed is as things evolved layers were built on to the island representing the evolution of certain religious and philosophical beliefs (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Buddhist). At some point man discovered the island and began investigating its scientific property and uncovered these layers. And as man does, naturally tries to corrupt in when greed takes over. As they did, we stopped moving along the string, and starting looping on a circle, each loop started by an intentional or unintentional event. Beginning the game.

When Ben turned the wheel to move the island, he dislodged it from space/time, no longer progressing along the string, but in a circle. Locke stopped it and put it back on course by turning it, and we were in 1977. Interestingly enough, the wheel they are turning looks an awful lot like the Dharmacakra, a symbol that represents dharma, Buddha’s teaching of the path to enlightenment.

Arrive Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sayid, and The Incident. This is the key to understanding the “sideways” split (or alpha-beta).

Jacob and “MiB” are neither good nor bad. Though I’m not sure “MiB” is as excited to be playing the game, Jacob certainly has a point to prove. Jacob is the romanticist, “MiB” is the realist. Jacob uses influence, ecstasy, faith, as well as murder to play his game. His ultimate goal is progressing and improving. “MiB” is not what he seems on the surface. He uses fear, murder (though not for sport), rationality as a weapon, and greed to get what he wants. As much as he seems, he is mostly indifferent to the ultimate outcome, but does believe that corruption is inevitable. He feels betrayed easily. Jacob isn’t particularly fond of people leaving the island, after all, the only reason why people never left was because the “Island” didn’t want it. They are both manipulative. They are the personification of the Greek Gods Dionysus and Hades. As Heraclitus says 'Hades and Dionysus, for whom they go mad and rage, are one and the same.’ Though, it’s up ! to your own interpretations of what that means, they represent the religious archetype of the underworld. This can be ‘Hell’ in the religious sense, or just represent the negativity in man.

The distinction between the two is what the show does so well. If you want to quantify it with any religious significance, it’s there. For my purposes, I approach it in the abundant scientific sense. After all, it was only the evolution of our minds that developed the idea of religion and faith.

In backgammon, as with most similar games, is about strategic, calculated moves and risks. This plot can be further developed with the study of the opening theory. A popular method starts with the game tree. A game tree is essentially a map of all possible moves starting at the initial position. A subset of the game tree can also be used in the same way, using alpha-beta pruning (which can be subsequently applied in many other games).

Alpha-beta pruning, simply stated, says that if you have two possible moves, one should be eliminated if you can find any reason why it is worse. An extension of this, and one that becomes increasingly evident in the Lost story is the killer hueristic approach. This is a move both Jacob and “MiB” consider often. The theory behind a killer move is when you have to make a move, if the same move produced a cut off in another branch of the tree, it’s likely to do the same, cutting off that branch. As an example, this could be a motivation for Jacob to exterminate the DHARMA camps.

So, we have the H-bomb, Jack is intent on blowing it up, which resets the game. This nuclear event, is where the storyline splits. Quite literally, it cause a split in the atoms that make up the reason they are there in the first place.

The Hydrogen bomb caused a nuclear reaction, or, nuclear fission, splitting our characters in two. Nuclear fission splits an atom into smaller, lighter elements. The psychological changes in our characters in the “sideways” timeline are a result of this.
Each of the Oceanic 6 are represented by the atomic makeup which is the islands way of drawing them in and provides there ultimate purpose for being there. Each one of these elements have certain magnetic properties that can attract or repel magnetic fields. This is where Desmond comes in. Desmond is 24, or Chromium. Chromium is unique in its ability to transform magnetic states.

There was a chemist by the name of Marie Curie. One of her achievements was discovering Radium, which is an alkaline earth metal that is almost pure white, but it oxidizes when it hits air, then turns black. It decays into radon which is a heavy gas. Radium is highly radioactive and can cause great harm if it replaces calcium in the bones. She went crazy when her husband died. She was born in 1876. This is where the smoke monster originated.

When it became imperative that the Oceanic Six return to the island, it was Locke’s death that would ultimately bring them back. What wasn’t clear at the time was Locke’s suicide attempt would have never worked. Ben killing Locke brings his body back to the island, but this also becomes the “MiB” loophole. When Radium is combined with beryllium, it becomes a neutron source for physics experiments. This gives him a friendly face, which he uses to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob.

Despite his claims, “MiB” couldn’t kill them. The purpose of the submarine bomb was exactly as Jack said, he wanted them to kill each other.

Charles Widmore is using Desmond to transverse space/time to produce the energy needed for a nuclear fusion, bringing together the split atoms. Because the atoms are lighter and weaker when split, they are more susceptible to radioactive decay. The ‘sickness’ is presumably radiation poison on the island. The weaknesses off of the island, is a result of weaker elements.

Because I don’t feel like typing anymore, just some random notes:

Dionysus’s mother Semele fell on a sword into a pit of fire, and the statue was built over it
The periods of the periodic table interestingly are related to the ages of man, the last of which, depending on whose framework, would have Kwon. Which led me to...
It was never Jin or Sun. Ji Yeon was born before Sun came back to the island, so she didn’t go back with the others to 1977. It is also why they could die. Ji Yeon is 42.

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