THE HUMAN EQUATION

I stumbled across an interesting quotation:

"To solve the human equation, we need to add love, subtract hate, multiply good, and divide between truth and error." Janet Coleman

In a formula:

Human = ( Love - Hate) x Good/ (Truth + Error)

So the factors to quantify are:

Love
Hate
Good
Truth
Errors

Truth and errors are objective facts that could be proven by research into the character actions.
Love and Hate are emotional observations that could be analyzed by a character's actions.
Good is a subjective determination of a person's personality and deeds.

To test the hypothesis, let us use a standard zero to ten scale for the variables. Zero would be none and ten would be absolute positive.

Let us take a simple character like Rose. She had the devotion to her husband, Bernard. They were totally in love with each other. She loved her life, but hated her cancer. But she accepted its truth that it was terminal and she would die. She would make mistakes and follow the wrong people on the island. She cared for other people and worked well at the beach camp. But in the end, she decided that it was best for her to leave the group and go off with Bernard to live in their own camp. Rose never actually hurt anyone during her stay on the island.

It may be debatable and subjective to assign points to Rose's character, but let us try:
Love 8, Hate 3, Truth 8, Errors 5, Good 9  

Rose = (8-3) x 9 / 8 + 5
Rose = 5 x 9 /13
Rose = 1.0769
  
Let us now take a more complex character like Sayid. He was raised in a poor dictatorship of Iraq. At an early age, he learned to kill. He accepted it with cool detachment, He garnered favor with his father as a result. He went into the military which drew out the dark side of Sayid. He never had a true love growing up. His relationship with Nadia was at first as torturer, then as a crush. He let her go and killed a soldier to cover up his treason. He further went to work for the U.S. military, abandoning his family. His decision led him down the path of being a pawn, a hired killer and mercenary. He was given a new opportunity to change when he crashed on the island. He had more street savvy than the others; he could tell when people were lying to him. He could find the truth in their actions, or by torturing them. He worked to protect the beach camp from the Others. He risked his life to save his colleagues when they were captured and held hostage. He killed may people while he was on the island. He hated himself and the life that he led. When he was shot and re-born, it was as a dark ("infected')  person. He would side with Flocke in the final team alignment.

To assign numbers to Sayid is also debatable and subjective:
 Love 2, Hate 8, Truth 7, Errors 6, Good 3 

Sayid = (2 - 8) x 3 / (7 + 6)
Sayid = (-6) x 3/ 13
Sayid =  - 1.3846  

Rose had a positive number. She was a positive person. 
Sayid has a negative number. He was a troubled soul who landed on the evil ledger of life.

If you look at the equation, the tipping point comes down to two true variables.
If Hate is more than Love, you will be a negative human being.
If you have more Errors than Truths in life, you will be a negative human being.

A final example of the most complex of characters, Locke.   Locke was a miracle baby born premature in a rural town after his mother was hit by a car. He grew up in foster homes. He was a loner. He rejected his intelligence (he was good at science in school) because he wanted to be with the cool kids. He was awkward in social settings. As a result, he dealt with his problems by fantasy (games, imagination).  He was too trusting and got burned by co-workers and his father (who stole his kidney). He was bitter and resentful of his life. He could not accept his paralysis. His hate pushed away the only person in his life that truly cared for him, his girlfriend Helen. That mistake made Helen die alone. On the island, Locke was given another miracle, the ability to walk again. He tried to be a different person, a leader of the camp. But he made error after error in judgment. Those mistakes caused the island to time skip, and his friends to get hurt. He killed many people on the island. He was at first obsessive about the Hatch, which killed Boone. He then gave up on the Numbers thinking nothing would happen: it imploded and began the island path to destruction. He was a failure since he could not in life convince any of the O6 to return to the island. He trusted Ben, but in an instant Ben murdered him. Locke's life was terribly sad and meaningless. He remained a bitter man. He could not understand his past mistakes; he was a poor judge of character. He wanted to be good and be accepted in a group of friends. But he was easily manipulated and used for other purposes. It made him shameful and resentful. His social history was his personal down fall.

Locke's assigned factors:
Love 3, Hate 6, Truth 3, Errors 8, Good 5 

Human = ( Love - Hate) x Good/ (Truth + Error) 

Locke = (3 - 6) x 5 / ( 3 - 8)
Locke = (-9) x 5 / (-11)
Locke = 4.0909

Rose had a positive number, 1.0769.  We concluded she was a positive, good person. 
Sayid has a negative number, - 1.3846.  We concluded he was a negative, bad soul.
Locke has a higher positive number, 4.0909. Was Locke four times more positive than Rose? Was he happier, more content or more human than Rose?

Locke's role in the series was larger than Rose's, but not that much different than Sayid's. 

Locke had more hate and made more errors than most of the characters in the series. Those two negatives somehow created a large positive final human value. Was it his pain and misery that allowed his final friends to reach the sideways church? Locke himself was not present or a factor upon the O6's return to the island to fight MIB. The only aspect of Locke's off-island death was that it motivated Jack to return to the island. Jack's return allowed Jacob to give the island guardianship to Jack. Jack accepted the guardianship, reset the light stone, and helped defeat MIB. Jack then died giving his remaining survivors a chance for a new life by taking off on the Ajira plane. 

Was Locke's sacrifice, as foretold by Christian (smoke monster or possibly Jacob in disguise) at the FDW, the key to resolving Locke's pitiful life by changing Jack's?