LOST COMMUNITY IN GAME FORM

I read a recent WIRED article in regard to a new "video clip" game.

In the game,  Her Story,  you are playing a character who’s obsessively poring over old documents on a computer screen finding clues to a mystery.

The LOST component is that the game won’t spell out its whole mystery to you with some big reveal at the end. It is up to you to keep everything in your head, or in your notes. When you find videos, you can bookmark them, but all you’ll have is a frustratingly large pile of unorganized bookmarks unless you meticulously grapple with the purposefully abstruse interface to organize them. And even then it won’t necessarily be clear. You’ll have clips you haven’t found, you’ll have clips you swear you saw but you forget how to call them up again. There is an ending, but it’s mostly up to you to decide that you’re satisfied.

The writer states that there is two phases to playing Her Story. "The first is sitting in front of the game’s virtual computer. The second is sitting in front of your real computer, going and finding some forum on which people are discussing all of the details and arguing over theories, to see what you missed or to at least confirm your suspicions, searching for more and more scraps of information that others might have left behind. In short, you end up doing exactly what you did when you played Her Story, but now the game’s gone."

The idea that one needs to find answers and trade theories in a game forum is exactly like the LOST communities during the show's run.

PLANE CRASH DREAM

One of the basic theories about LOST is that the entire series was a dream.

A dream by a character (known or unknown) who has a nightmare about living through a plane crash. But what does a dream about a plane crash represent?

It is not an uncommon dream. A person dreams of a journey – airplane or car are the most common – that ends in a crash. Alternatively, the person wakes up just before the crash. The dream analysis is that the person has angst, anxiety and fear of failure in their personal life, either a project or a goal.

Plane crash dreams are about the fear of not hitting your goals. Perhaps they are unrealistic, or perhaps new circumstances have made them appear harder to achieve.

If you dream of a plane crash it suggests you are anxious about the failure of a project. The dream meaning is of you having planned a project that doesn’t get you where you thought it would – and is accompanied by the fear that things will end badly.

Plane crash dreams (and car crash dreams) are particularly common during recessions and times of financial crisis, and can be directly translated as someone worrying about their financial situation – a lifetime’s journey, with a planned end, where there is a sudden concern about getting safely to the goal.

However, the dream can in fact relate to any important project or goal where there is a fear over successful completion.

Plane crash dreams can signify you have set unrealistic goals, that the goalposts have moved, or that events have suddenly obscured the finish line. The dream is an expression of your anxiety.

A dream of a plane crash represents your self doubt and your lack of faith that you can successfully complete a project.

Plane crash dreams can also represent an extreme fear of phobia of a future event.

Plane crash dreams are about your anxiety for the future.

It might therefore be an appropriate time to look at your goals to see if they are still achievable. Can you make changes so that your goals appear easier? Or do you need to recalibrate your goals to take into account current circumstances?

The fear of failure can often be overcome by a fresh analysis of the obstacles in your path and a more realistic plan on how to reach your goals.

The most clues in the series point to one character who had the most plane crash type associated mental issues: Hurley. The Numbers were weaved throughout the story line, which directly connect Hurley to the plane crash dream theory. Hurley had many fears and phobias. One of them was finding love. At the same time, fear of rejection which was embodied by his father leaving him at an early age. With his self-image and self-esteem at a low point, he puts little effort into himself or his goals. He is stuck in a personal and financial rut. Even with his dream of being a lottery winner, that success in his dream or mind is cursed. He is anxious around people and fears making decisions. He would rather hide in the shadows than have the limelight on him. As such, he was extremely anxious about his future - - - with his mother pressing him to find a wife, have kids and be responsible. Instead, Hurley would find comfort in a bucket of fried chicken, perpetuating the doom he cast upon himself.

In a sad twist, it would then seem in Hurley's plane crash dream that his only fulfillment in life is in death, when he re-connects with Libby in the after life to live happily ever after. In other words, he has little reason to move forward to change his current life - - - procrastinate to the bitter end. There are many people who can relate to Hurley's plight of being stuck in a routine, a quiet, meek, miserable life with little personal growth to risk even the harshest rejection in order to find happiness with others. That could be why The Others were shown as evil, dark and dangerous. Hurley was more a shell introvert around strangers than a humorous, nice guy around friends or co-workers. It is very difficult to break old habits to risk putting yourself out there for failure. This is why the Hurley dream theory makes sense in the LOST mythology. The story was about fears, anxiety, loneliness, risk, rewards, new friendships, bonds and love.

ALCOHOL

Alcohol is God's apology for arranging our lives back to front. - - - James May

DELUSIONS

There is a difference between delusions and illusions as discussed in a recent Psychology Today article.

We often make split second decisions about people we meet in various situations. Those are character evaluations.  For example, “The person on the talent show is clearly deluded about their lack of singing ability.” “That politician has delusions of grandeur.” “She's deluded if she expects to be promoted.” "You have to be deluded to believe anything salesmen say.”

A delusion is a belief held by an individual or group that is demonstrably false, patently untrue, impossible, fanciful, or self-deceptive. A person with delusions, however, often has complete certainty and conviction about their delusory beliefs. They resist arguments and evidence that they are wrong.

People have illusions about smells (olfactory), taste (gustatory), temperature (thermoceptive), and touch (tactile). They may experience highly disgusting or very pleasant or unusual smells when meeting a particular person. They may find ordinary foods (oranges, chocolate, milk) have different tastes than others experience. They may find cool objects burning hot or warm objects frozen; traditionally smooth objects (like a balloon or cat's fur) may feel rough or uneven.

The most written about of all delusions, paranoia, has been shown to follow various stages: general suspiciousness; selective perception of others; hostility; paranoid “illumination” in which all things fall into place; and, finally, paradoxical delusions of influence and persecution. Delusions often totally preoccupy people and cause them considerable distress because they do not doubt their beliefs are correct.

Delusions differ from illusions. We have visionary and auditory illusions; for instance, that the sun goes around the earth or that ventriloquists’ dummies actually speak. We have selective memories /illusions of happy childhoods. These are things that seem true to the senses or memory, but are known to be false or have no basis in reality.

There are some caveats: Some religious  delusions are impossible to verify and hence falsify. Other delusions have a self-fulfilling prophecy, such as a jealous  person accusing and attacking an innocent partner, who then leaves them for another. In that sense, these people cause their delusions to come true.

An emotional charge, like jealous, can tap a person's brain process and imagination to create false presumptions and assumptions that feed fear and paranoia. If a girlfriend does not return a message, an insecure boyfriend could begin the dark road of self-esteem hits to his own ego: maybe she no longer likes me?, who is she with?, is she out with another man?, where is she? is she having a good time without me? This self doubt has a cascade effect which could lead to the irrational boyfriend to lash out at his innocent girlfriend who was merely too busy at work to respond to his messages. So his fear about losing her is a self-induced reality caused by his delusions about an event which he lacks sufficient information to make a rational decision. The idea of "self-fulfilling prophecy" comes to mind.

Psychiatrists may diagnose someone as having a delusion disorder under a number of very specific situations:

1. A person must manifest one or more non-bizarre delusions for at least a month.

1. The person has not met other behavioral criteria to be classified as someone with schizophrenia.

1. Audio and visual hallucinations are not prominent, though tactile and olfactory hallucinations may be.

1. Despite the person's delusions or their behavioral consequences, their psychosocial functioning is not essentially impaired enough to be considered particularly odd or bizarre.

1. If the specific delusions impact a person’s mood, these fluctuations do not last very long.

1. The disturbance is not the result of physiological or medical conditions, like the medication or drugs a person is taking.

Sometimes psychiatrists say it is difficult to distinguish from other disorders like hypochondriasis (particularly among those with little self-awareness); body dysmorphic disorder (preoccupation with imagined bodily defects); Obsessive Compulsive as well as Paranoid Personality Disorder. 

The delusions of people with schizophrenia are often clearly bizarre, utterly implausible, not at all understandable; one might believe the brain  has been replaced by that of another person or that one has shrunk to be three feet tall. On the other hand, non-bizarre delusions could be possible. For instance, people may feel they are being followed, photographed or recorded, that somebody is slowly poisoning them, that their partner is always cheating onthem, or that their boss or neighbor is in love with them. A person can easily project negatives onto any situation because their minds are free to make blind speculations about the world around them. A person with low esteem or is self-centered can channel these negatives into a web of "the world is against me" personality traits. Or that "I am cursed because I am unlucky at everything."

Some delusions cause people to make dramatic changes in their life: leave their job or partner, move from their house (or even leave the country), or dress very differently. The person with delusional disorder, however, appears normal when their delusional ideas are not being discussed.
People with delusions can become very moody, often causing their relationships and work to suffer. Interestingly, some cultures and groups have particular beliefs that may in other cultures be seen as clinically delusional.

It is a relatively rare disorder usually occurring later in life, particularly among people with relatives who have other disorders. Most appear argumentative and hypersensitive.  Many do not seek treatment and become, over the years, more and more isolated.

Psychiatrists have noticed five clear types of delusions:

1. Erotomanic. These individuals believe someone is seriously in love with them, more in the Hollywood romance, even spiritual way, rather than in the sexual sense. It is often a famous person—a film star or famous athlete—but also can be powerful superiors at work. Whilst someone with this delusion can keep it a secret and do very little, others may expend a great deal of energy trying to contact their delusional lover via emails, visits, or stalking. Most are women, but men with the delusions tend to act more boldly and get in more trouble with the law, particularly if they believe their ‘lover’ is in trouble or imminent danger.

1. Grandiose. These are sometimes called delusions of grandeur and manifest when a person believes (with no evidence) that they are special: they have amazing abilities or have made a vitally important discovery. Often the delusions are religious for those with the disorder, often believing that they have a unique and privileged relationship with the "The Almighty." Sometimes they feel they are a prominent person and have special relationships with other prominent people.

1. Jealous. This is clearly manifested in the strong, but unfounded belief that a partner is unfaithful and cheating on them: Odd bits of "evidence" are put forward for these claims. They may hire a private detective, attempt to imprison their partner as well as physically and verbally attack them.

1. Persecutory. This is the belief that someone or some group is conspiring against them. They could be cheating, spying on, harassing, or gossiping about them, or even attempting to poison or drug them. They are often angry and resentful with deep feelings of injustice. Many attempt to quell the persecution by legal means or appealing to authorities. It is the most common type of all the delusionary disorders. Some even get violent and aggressive towards those they believe are deliberately targeting them.

1. Somatic. This is the delusion that one’s body is somehow strange or not functioning properly. It may be the belief that one smells odd, or that particular parts (nose, breasts, feet) are particularly odd, misshapen or ugly. Often people with these delusions believe they may have some internal bug or parasite that is destroying or affecting some very specific part of their body.

The causes of delusions are unknown. Current interests in neuropsychology have lead some to speculate that malfunctioning biological features may cause or exacerbate the problem. Some have implicated basal ganglia, others the limbic system and still others the neocortex. Investigations continue.

For others, genetic explanations are best because so many with delusional disorders have first-degree relatives with these and related disorders.Other researchers point out that many with the disorder have had difficult childhoods characterized by instability and turbulence, callousness and coldness. They consider delusions to be an impairment in the ego defense system aimed to protect and bolster the self. They see the paranoid or persecutory delusions as an attempt to project onto others things they do not like to admit in themselves.

People often lie, fake, or deceive, even to themselves.  Psychologists call this dissimulation, but have recently distinguished between two very different types of dissimulation:

• Impression management. This is all about presenting oneself in a positive light, perhaps forgetting certain things and sharing small “white lies” about another.

•  Self-deception. Strictly speaking, this is not lying but is more like a delusion. If someone says they have a sense of humor, but everyone who knows them says they do not, they are deceiving themselves. Similarly, when someone feels ugly or plain whilst everyone else (friend, acquaintance, stranger) believes they are not, it implies a negative self-deception. At interviews, some forms of self-deception begin to get close to delusions.

There entire main cast of LOST had clear indications of delusional characteristics. From "white lies" about one's self or accomplishments, to bold face grandeur Napoleon complexes, LOST is a clinical study of how various diverse egos still have a common thread of mental imbalance, even in seemingly normal, happy people.

THE NEXT STEP

Another twist on our discussion of brain patterns, personality and ability to transfer data between human beings (to network them like computers). A new movie, Self/Less, has the premise of fully memory and personality transfer of human consciousness.

When business tycoon Damien Hale (played by Ben Kingsley) faces death from cancer in Self/Less, in theaters today, he doesn’t go gently into that good night. Instead, he undergoes a radical underground medical procedure called “shedding” that allows him to transfer his mind into another, younger, healthier, lab-grown body (Ryan Reynolds’s body, to be exact) and start a whole new life with a new identity.

For now, this is science fiction—but, says Charles Higgins,  a neuroscientist at the University of Arizona, it could one day happen. “We cannot yet conceive of a machine that could scan the brain to the extent required to do what is in the movie,” he tells mental_floss. “But 100 years ago we could not conceive that in our pockets we would carry what are, essentially, supercomputers and communicators that we can talk to anyone on the planet with.”

Studying the brain is Higgins's business. “I’m interested in the interface between the mind and the brain and quantifying things that are normally unquantifiable, like depression, mood, consciousness, and self,” he says. Among the things he and his team are working on in his research laboratory: grabbing electrical signals from insect brains to build high-tech robots with excellent vision; figuring out how cognition works by creating a simulated, computerized rat that wanders around a digital maze; and gathering data on human sleep with a device he built. So though he didn’t consult on Self/Less during production—the studio brought him on afterward—he’s an excellent source to talk to about the film’s science.

According to Higgins, there are huge hurdles to jump before we transfer consciousness from one body to another. For one, there’s a lot we don’t understand about how the brain—and consciousness in particular—work. “If you ask 100 different experts to list what the brain does, you’ll get 100 different answers,” Higgins says. “The brain definitely regulates your life support. Sometimes we use the word cognition—is that what the brain does? It’s a memory system as well. You could go on and on.”

Once we understand the brain in the same way we understand the heart or a computer, Higgins says, “we’ll be able to see how brains are related and understand what the important details we need to get out of the brain are.”

Another challenge: Computers have software, but the brain isn’t quite so simple. “The software and the hardware are all [together],” Higgins says. “So what details of the brain structure do I need to read out?”

Some people, he says, think we need to go down to a quantum level. Others think it might be unnecessary to go subatomic to scan consciousness: “You could go just to the level of of neurons and other connections,” Higgins says. “But we don’t really know.”

Even if we did know where consciousness was found, we don’t have the technology to transfer it. In Self/Less, the company Phoenix Biogenic uses what looks like a souped-up fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to access and transfer consciousness from one body to another. Higgins says this is “the right idea, although at this point fMRI technology does not allow us to get down to sub-neuron resolution.”

Computers use electromagnetic markers to store and access data. The human brain uses biochemicals and proteins to make connections to organic synapses. Science does not know how the brain encodes memories, emotions and data for storage and later retrieval. Medical science does not know why in the aging process, people begin to lose memories. Rehab therapists have trained patients to mentally use artificial, mechanical limbs. 

The next step in research is to find how a person's mind interacts with his or her organic materials in the brain. 

HARD WIRED BRAIN NET

A recent story in WIRED shows how close science is to science fiction. And the sci-fi is the Star Trek collective mind think called the Borg.

The premise is simple. Brains work better than computers. They’re faster, more creative, and can store a vast amount of accessible memory. So computer science has tried to emulate the brain to create faster, better and near human computers. One way to do this is to network brains.

Researchers at Duke University announced they have wired animal brains together so they could collaborate on simple tasks. Network monkeys displayed motor skills, and networked rats performed computations.


Lead researcher,  Miguel Nicolelis, is a neurobiologist who has been wiring animal brains to machines since 1999, when they connected a rat to a robot arm, says this is the first time that anybody has directly wired together multiple brains to complete a task—a so-called brain-to-brain interface.

To build the monkey network, Nicolelis’ team first implanted electrodes in rhesus macaque brains, positioned to pick up signals from a few hundred neurons. Then they connected two or three of the macaques to a computer with a display showing a CG monkey arm. The monkeys were supposed to control the arm, directing it toward a target like a boat crew rows forward. When the monkeys got the arm to hit the target, the researchers rewarded them with juice. The monkeys don’t think “move my arm” and the arm moves—they learn what kind of thinking makes the arm move and keep doing that—because monkeys want the juice reward.

The rat study was even weirder as it involved the transfer of data.  The neuroscientists directly wired four rats’ brains together—using the implants to both collect and transmit information about neural activity—so one rat that responded to touch, for example, could pass on their knowledge of that stimulus to another rat. Then the researchers set the rats to a bunch of different abstract tasks—guessing whether it might rain from temperature and air pressure data, for example, or telling the difference between different kinds of touch-stimuli. The brain collectives always did at least as well on those tests as an individual rat would have, and sometimes even better.

The goal of the research is see if networking brains might help accelerate medical rehab in people who have neurological damage such as relearning motor skills after a stroke or brain injury. Normally, this rehabilitation is a long, painstaking process. Nicolelis wants to learn if a healthy person’s brain could help a stroke patient re-learn how to move a paralyzed leg faster than current therapies do.

A few LOST theories speculated that the real premise of the show was a vast neuro-network linking various individuals together in a vivid, digital universe like Ghost in the Shell. Memories, emotions, experiences, goals, aspirations, fears and knowledge combine to be one's ghost in an alternative, cyber-reality.

If the main characters were not "real" in the sense of being humans surviving a plane crash on a mysterious island but virtual selves caught up in an illusion of surviving a plane crash on an island filled with the collective memories, emotions, experiences, goals, aspirations, and fears - - - that could create a very real looking, complex world. It would also explain how certain continuity errors, mistakes and criss crossed fantasy, science and sci-fi elements could co-exist in the same main story line.

The idea that the characters are actually institutionalized individuals connected by brain electrodes is not a new theory. Some speculated that this set up would be found in a mental institution (where Hurley went) or a medical research facility (like DHARMA) or even a prison hospital ward where illicit medical experimentation on mental patients used to be performed in secret. 

If this was the true premise, sedated or coma patients were linked together to share their dreams and nightmares in shared space, would this make the show experience any different to you? Would the ending make more sense to you?

SPIRIT ANIMALS

Otherkin are people who identify as partially or entirely non-human. Some say that they are, in spirit if not in body, not human.

This is explained by some members of the otherkin community as possible through reincarnation,   having a nonhuman soul, ancestry, or symbolic metaphor. Some scholars categorize this identity claim as "religious" because it is largely based on supernatural beliefs.

Otherkin largely identify as mythical creatures, with others identifying as creatures from fantasy or popular culture. Examples include: angels, demons, dragons, elves, fairies, sprites, aliens and cartoon characters.  Many otherkin believe in the existence of a multitude of parallel/alternative universes, which would explain the existence and the possibility to relate to fantastical beings and fictional characters.

Many of these themes like life, death, demons, monsters, souls, reincarnation, heaven and hell, are embodied in the LOST mythology. Why were the Others called "the Others."  Was this a clue to their origin, as otherkin (not human but spirits)? That would put a different spin on the island and the show's premise, being more underworld than real world.

Another realm of otherkin is the bonding of humans with spirits. Self-identification with another person, community or lifestyle helps mold a person's character and personality. Otherkin is essentially another manifestation of this phenomenon, which has its roots deep in human psychology; in other human tribes, it's perfectly acceptable to identify with a spirit animal and to take on traits and fetishes relating to that creature. 

What would be the spirit animals for each main character "Candidates?"

Hurley: Turtle. Slow, steady, nonthreatening, loner.

Kate: Rabbit. Fast, on the run, avoids people and danger, cute, adorable.

Sawyer: Snake. Lies low, stalks prey, strikes when least expected, deadly.

Sayid: Scorpion. Shifts with the sand, dangerous quick strike ability, deadly.

Jack: Horse. Strong, steady, a hard worker.

Locke: Lone Wolf. Seeker, follower, trying to find own path.

Jin: Shark. Always on the move, looking for opportunity, advantage, willing to hunt in pack.

BRAIN FOOD

 A new study links what one eats to how one thinks.

A study conducted by researchers at Oregon State University and published in the journal Neuroscience  suggests that high-fat, high-sugar diets have a detrimental effect on what they refer to as “cognitive flexibility,” or the power to adapt and adjust to changing situations. 

The research was performed using laboratory mice that consumed different diets with varying levels of fat and sugar before facing a gamut of tests—primarily mazes and basic puzzles — to monitor changes in their mental and physical function. The researchers paid specific attention to the types of gut bacteria present in each control group.

“Bacteria can release compounds that act as neurotransmitters, stimulate sensory nerves or the immune system, and affect a wide range of biological functions,” Kathy Magnusson, a professor in the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine and principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute, said in a statement. “We’re not sure just what messages are being sent, but we are tracking down the pathways and the effects.”

In about four weeks, the mental and physical performances of the rats fed on a high-fat, high-sugar diet started to drop significantly, especially when one or more variables in the test changed. One of the most disparate physiological factors within the groups of mice, and the suspected reason for the decreased brain function, was gut bacteria.

People have been paying more attention to their guts than ever. Yogurt companies are using the term “probiotic” to peddle their sugary treats to would-be health junkies, and celebrities like sportscaster Erin Andrews are now digestive health spokespeople for hire, trying to finally make gut bacteria the hip and cool subject it deserved to be all along. But the scientific community has also started paying keener attention to those trillions of stomach-dwelling microflora as well.

One of the first studies to ever to link gut bacteria to brain function was performed by researchers at the Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology and Stress.  They took three groups of women and had one group eat yogurt loaded with supplemental probiotics daily for four weeks, another group eat a substance that looked and tasted like yogurt but had no probiotics, and the third group was given nothing specific to eat. Not only did the sans-probiotic group suffer in cognitive tests, just like the mice did in the recent Oregon State study, but they also faltered in emotion based tests, linking poor gut health to stress. 

“This work suggests that fat and sugar are altering your healthy bacterial systems, and that’s one of the reasons those foods aren’t good for you.” Magnusson said. “It’s not just the food that could be influencing your brain, but an interaction between the food and microbial changes.”

The old wise tale, "you are what you eat," seems to have some scientific foundation. 

This could explain why the LOST main characters, the survivors, were slow to adapt and adjust to the changing situation of survival. The diet they had was sharply diminished from their standard life style until junk food was reintroduced with the Hatch discovery and food drop. One of the nagging issues during the series was that the main characters never asked viewer questions to each other in order to figure out what was going on. It was more action without thinking than thinking of a plan then acting it out. The latter leaders who had better brain food diets such as Ben or Sayid seemed to grasp island situations better than Hurley, Charlie or even Jack.

1000

It is hard to believe that this is the 1000th post on LOSTheory.

Started in the last season of LOST as a way to expand upon personal fan theories about the show, it continues to explore LOST themes and story lines with related science and cultural stories which used to be the basis of the strong LOST internet community discussions.

I never thought it would last this long.

Most of the fan blogs for the series merely faded away within a year or so. There are probably only a couple of hardcore LOST sites still in existence. The series has faded from the mass collective memory because it is not the type of show fit for syndication which would churn a new viewing audience to the LOST mythology.

The writers and cast members have dispersed throughout the entertainment media complex with less than stellar results. It is hard to remake a widely viewed cult series like LOST. It is hard to repeat success in any business, but it particularly hard in television. Something new and innovative is suddenly tired and boring in another run.

You never can tell what will happen in the future. There are still many fan comments stating that they miss the show. And never say never, because sometimes things come back from the dead like Twin Peaks or the X-Files. But LOST's ending makes a second curtain call more difficult and challenging to create a sequel. Even a spin-off would cause some head scratches because the interwoven story lines of the main characters seems to be set in stone.

Would a Ben spin-off of his conquest of the DHARMA group be compelling enough to last an entire season? Would a Locke spin-off of his depressing childhood of foster homes be so depressing that it turns off viewers? Would a Kate crime spree roller coaster road trip to avoid FBI capture be fun or disguised as a Fugitive rip-off?

No, LOST appears to set itself in television stone, for good or ill.

LOST took a foothold in many people's lives for six full years. That is longer than many people have personal relationships or friendships. It is not to say we cannot still learn from LOST, enjoy it, dissect it and rework it to find new twists or enlightenment. LOST gave us the rare opportunity to branch out, ask questions, seek our own answers, and to weave our own derivative stories. How much longer that will last is up to each individual.

THE SAME EFFORT

There is a proverb which states: We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. ... It takes the same amount of effort.

If one takes an honest, introspective look at one's self, that proverb is an accurate statement.

Effort is a vigorous or determined attempt to accomplish something; a strenuous physical or mental exertion.

So effort takes strength, focus and a goal.

The results we get is equal to the amount of effort we put into the task.

Our mind is not our best friend. It tricks us every day. It makes "excuses" that allows us to procrastinate, take risks, go outside one's comfort zone under the security blanket of making sure we don't "get hurt." It may rain today, so I won't go outside to exercise (jog, run, walk). I won't give up soda because it will give me a caffeine withdrawal headache. It takes too much time to go out and meet new people.

Those excuses are in direct contradiction to one's own personal goals such as losing weight, meeting new people, getting out of a social rut, etc. You may want to change your life but your mind and will creates road blocks to starting a plan to achieve those goals.

It seems contradictory, but it may be the last vestige of basic animal instincts in man who for self-preservation was wary of strangers, the dark, animal noises, risky paths and painful experiences.

Every person is given 24 hours each day to use as he or she pleases. Free will gives us choices. those personal choices is what controls what paths we take during our lives. Some of these paths lead to happiness and fulfillment, while other paths lead us to loneliness and sadness.

In LOST, the vast majority of main characters were going down personal paths of unhappiness.  For example, Jack chose to follow his father's career path as a surgeon, but that is not really what he wanted to do. His career path sucked the life out of him - - - turning him into a loner whose only purpose was to work at the hospital in order to get some recognition from his father.

Sawyer also chose to take his life down a dark road of revenge. He could have accepted his parents deaths for what they were, a troubled murder-suicide caused by being taken by a con artist. But there had to be something more than financial stress to cause such destruction of his family unit. Sawyer was given a chance by his uncle to become a fine young man, but Sawyer chose to copy the man who caused him grave pain. And once he fulfilled his goal of revenge, it left him hollow - - - he had led a meaningless life with nothing to show for it.

If Jack or Sawyer had put in the same effort on something more positive, a different career path, they would have been better human beings. They probably would not have been loners prior to Flight 815. They probably would have had their own happy families from the lessons learned in their own childhoods. Instead, they took the broken pieces of their lives and obsessed on them to the point of darkness.

Everyone needs to take stock in their lives on a periodic basis. Are you putting in the effort to be happy?

SUN CONFLICTS

Sun-Hwa Kwon is an enigma, a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.  

She grew up in a Korean culture dominated by male power. She was expected to be the passive daughter of a wealthy industrialist (with harsh criminal attributes in his business dealings). By all accounts, she grew up as a spoiled, rich kid who had everything the upper class could offer her except excitement.

So she tried to feed her rebellious spirit by trying to undermine her father. Her daddy issues were part cultural, part self-esteem.

Her illicit romance with a poor man, Jin, was an example of her lashing out against her father's wishes. As Jin turned into her father (by being an enforcer for her dad's business partners), Sun began to rebel against her husband by having an affair with her English tutor. We presume that ended badly with her teacher being thrown to his death.

Throughout her back story, we find that Sun had no real close friends. This may be from her isolation as a daughter of a rich and powerful family. She may have been isolated for her own protection against kidnapping, ransom or shaming the family with bad behavior. As such, with Jin she found herself again alone in her home with nothing to do - - - no one to turn to discuss her problems. She thought that she could drastically change her life with the man she loved, but that quickly turned out to be not the case. She turned into the passive, doting spouse. A role that she despised. 

In order to find some self-worth, Sun tried to conceive a child to stabilize her marriage. Jin's infertility put another strain on their relationship to the point Sun was going to leave him at the airport to start a new life alone in America. 

But a pang of regret, remorse or guilt took Sun back to Jin in the airport. It took her onto Flight 815 and her ultimate fate of being trapped on a mysterious island. Since Jin did not know of her English skills, the couple were isolated from the start from the rest of the survivors. This also brought more stress on their relationship since Sun needed to have something more than Jin's paternal iron hand ruling her life. She sought out Kate with her secrets. 

It is ironic that Kate, who could easily make friends with her charm, could never really keep them.

It seemed that Sun could navigate her cursed island life with the meager chance of one true friend to stabilize her marriage, but a jealous Jin and the betrayal that she spoke English, shocked Jin to  shun her.

Here is where the Sun story goes off the rails. 

Despite Jin's infertility, Sun conceived Jin's baby on the Island, which strengthened their marriage but threatened Sun's health. This is the drama that binds the couple together. But logically, many viewers thought that the child was actually her English tutor's. How the "magic" of the island could create a baby in Sun while the couple was cold towards each other could only be thought to be the dream of a weak school girl.

Then the second improbable occurrence: Sun giving birth to her daughter in the jungle with the help of Kate. This was probably more a Kate moment than Sun's, since Kate had avoided her entire life. responsibility for anything or anyone. 

The third improbable occurrence was Sun's near death experience on the freighter. She gets on the helicopter just before the explosion. She is shocked and grief stricken that Jin has been killed. But then she has another near death experience when the island vanishes and the helicopter crashes in the ocean.

Instead of being grateful for having a daughter to care for, Sun's personality changes dramatically.
Back in civilization, Sun became more self-confident and daring, seizing control of her father's company. She also sought revenge for Jin's death. When a man she never trusted, Ben, tells her Jin is still alive, Sun drops everything - - - including the care of her own daughter - - - to return to the island. That makes no sense. Why would a mother with a young infant abandon her to go to a dangerous island in search for her deceased husband? Since she had the power and wealth of a Widmore, she could have sent her own rescue party to the island. We were as naive as she was in trusting Ben.

Back on the island, she is in the wrong time shift. She cannot find Jin. She feels angry and betrayed but somehow never accepts that it is her own fault. And during her island time, she has no remorse or feelings about her daughter.

Once the time lines merge, Sun reunites in a fantasy reunion with Jin. Their reunion was very brief, since the submarine destined to take them home is sabotaged by Flock. In the worst possible story line, Sun is trapped by a locker when the bomb explodes in the submarine. The ship takes on water. Instead of Jin saving himself to take care of their daughter, he decides to stay and die with Sun. Why would a father abandon his daughter that way?

Sun and Jin drowned together for no good reason. 

But the last contradiction is a major one. In the flash sideways, the pair were reunited after a family crime matter resolves, putting Sun into labor at the hospital. The birth of her daughter in the side ways world (after life) has the same major plot issues as the Aaron birth by Claire at the side ways concert: why would a live human being be born again in the afterlife? One theory is that the children were never born to their parents in their real life. That the island was all an illusion. That the dreams and hopes of a heavenly life would include a fabricated family to love. Otherwise, Sun's daughter would be alive on the mainland, growing up to live her own life, and then dying to reunite with her parents as an adult.

The Sun story shows many of the critical script flaws in LOST.

LOSING MEMORIES

This is a story right out of science fiction.

The BBC reported that a man who went to the dentist for a root canal left with his memories locked in on 1:40 p.m. on 14 March 2005 – right in the middle of a dentist appointment.

A member of the British Armed Forces, he had returned to his post in Germany the night before after attending his grandfather’s funeral. He had gym in the morning, where he played volleyball for 45 minutes. He then entered his office to clear a backlog of emails, before heading to the dentist’s for root-canal surgery.

“I remember getting into the chair and the dentist inserting the local anesthetic,” he said. After that? A complete blank. It is like any new memories were written in invisible ink that slowly disappears from his mind after 90 minutes.

Today, he only knows that there is a problem because he and his wife have written detailed notes on his smartphone, in a file labelled “First thing – read this."

Even the events leading up to his amnesia are highly puzzling. The dentist thought it was a reaction to the anesthetic or a brain blood vessel had burst. But other medical evaluations could not confirm a cause.

The patient could work out how to solve a complex maze, however, he had completely forgotten the skill three days later. “It was like a déjà vu replica of the same errors – he took the same time to relearn the task once more,” says his doctor.

One possibility is that this kind amnesia is a “psychogenic illness." Some patients report memory loss after a traumatic event – but that tends to be a coping mechanism to avoid thinking about painful past events; it doesn’t normally affect your ability to remember the present. However, this patient had suffered no trauma, and according detailed psychiatric assessments, he is otherwise emotionally healthy. 

The answer may be hiding in the thicket of tiny neural connections we call “synapses”. Once we have experienced an event, the memories are slowly cemented in the long term by altering these richly woven networks. That process of “consolidation” involves the production of new proteins to rebuild the synapses in their new shape; without it, the memory remains fragile and is easily eroded with time. Block that protein synthesis in rats, and they soon forget anything they have just learnt. 

Crucially, 90 minutes would be about the right time for this consolidation to take place – just as he starts to forget the details of the event. It is like the protein production just stops so memories cannot be locked in place.

This story is relayed to LOST fans for the simple reason as a possible explanation of the untold torment of what "awakening" meant to the main characters. They had to "awake" in order to move on in life. But why in the sideways world they could not remember the island past has always been a confusing bit of mythology. Instead of not allowing the memories to set in the synapses, the LOST characters' memories were "masked" by something until a traumatic or emotional event triggered the release of that mask. This falls into the category of circumstantial evidence to the premise that LOST's foundation story line was about mind control and illusion over reality.

DO COMA PATIENTS DREAM?

Science is trying to figure out how the conscious and subconscious mind works. Several studies have tried to use EEG monitors to pinpoint brain activity in normal resting individuals, sleeping individuals and people in a coma. The results have been inconclusive. Brain activity is hard to measure on a quantitative level.

People in comas are, to the best of our knowledge (at least in most cases) incapable of entering REM sleep, and very likely are not going to have any kind of dream or nightmare. This is because the brain system required to have a dream are in fact the same systems required while you're awake - to the point that your visual cortex will light up in an FMRI during a dream - it does not light up during a coma. Now, in contrast, there are some patients who aren't in a coma but rather an immobile state (imagine the computer's on, but the monitor's disconnected) - these patients have brain activity and can even, for instance, picture a tennis game if it's described to them. This state would likely allow for dreams, and if so, nightmares. However, if they did, they would likely dream just like we do.

It is also incorrect to assume that we only end nightmares by waking up. The sudden shock of awakening makes us remember the dream more clearly. Most dreams are finite because the neurological triggers for them are transient. We dream, research indicates, to solve problems. To walk through the aspects of our day that were unresolved or had left incomplete traces that needed to be handled. Nightmares similarly give us a chance to practice at our fears - however, our brain is unlikely to keep giving us practice after a certain amount of time.

In our non-waking state, there are two factors at work: dreams to solve problems and nightmares to practice facing our fears.

That seems to be a mission statement for LOST.

Take Hurley for example. He had a fear of rejection, including from his father and later with women. He also had an active imagination to try to solve his problems such as money, work and body imagine. In the complexity of Hurley's semi-conscious sleep state, he could have had both problem solving dreams and fear nightmares overlapping to create his island adventure.

Because what happens when Hurley "awakens" from his island time? He is in the sideways world with a lovely woman, Libby, and his friends.  This could still be part of his dream-nightmare resolution. For Hurley learns through his island time to be responsible, to not blame curses or bad luck for his issues with his parents, work or love life, and that by just being himself he can attain his goals of a romantic life and lasting friendships.

If that is the message of LOST, it is a good one.

CLOSURE

Some things end.  Some things end when you least expect them to end; friendships and relationships.

How they end may be as important as why they ended.

When one person breaks off a friendship or relationship cold turkey, this may lead the other person bewildered, confused, and in shock. If that person does not know what he or she did wrong, the pain of loss is intensified by the lack of closure.

Closure is the act or process of closing something in the a sense of resolution or conclusion at the end of an artistic work or  a feeling that an emotional or traumatic experience has been resolved.

The LOST experience mirrors real life in many ways. For die hard fans, the characters in the show were their weekly friends. They bonded with their stories, hopes and dreams. They were so involved in their lives that they took to the internet to debate, defend and marvel in their characters attributes and stories. So many people were going to take it hard when LOST ended just as any bond of friendship or affection ends in real life.

At least in the series, the producers were given the opportunity to wrap up what they considered the important loose ends to give the main characters a send off to the heavens.  More fans than not accepted the finale as being the resolution they wanted for their characters, their friends and themselves. The journey was not a waste of time. It was just a sad reminder that the six years together was over. Only memories remain.

In real life, some people do not get the opportunity to say goodbye in a relationship. Suddenly, a person is taken away by an accident or sudden death. Sometimes friendships fade away from neglect or fear that they may become too serious for one person. Sometimes relationships end in a heated way that leaves the parties bitter and hurt. Sometimes the pain lingers because one person in a relationship does not have the opportunity to say "I'm sorry," or even "goodbye." The lack of closure takes a greater toll than the known or unknown reason for the break-up.

Even fans who hated LOST's ending can still feel that the series and their relationship to the show ended with real closure. They know how things ended. They know the characters got together as part of their bonds of friendship. Certain characters found their true loves. It may have been overly sweet and cliche ending, but none the less, an ending.

Many TV shows are canceled between seasons, with a cliffhangers or characters in limbo. This is the worst type of fan purgatory - - - not knowing what was going to happen. Unless the show is rescued by a Netflix, Amazon or other secondary outlet, there will always be a "what if?" haunting question in the viewer's mind. That question is also pondered in real life. It is not a good feeling. But sociologists tell us that even the harshest questions about other people will fade over time.