DEJA VU AGAIN

We don't know exactly because it’s difficult to study—you can’t induce déjà vu in most people. 

But scientists have theories. It may be a memory error: An experience triggers a memory, but the brain can’t retrieve it. When that happens, your brain fails to distinguish the past from the present, leaving you with an odd feeling of familiarity. 

Another theory holds that two parts of the brain perceive an experience at the same time. If information arrives slightly faster to one part, a person can feel like they’re having the same experience twice. 

However, a group of scientists from the U.K., France, and Canada think another cause could be anxiety. They recently studied the bizarre case of a 23-year-old man with chronic déjà vu and found in one instance that the more distressed he became by the endless loop of déjà vu experiences, the worse they got. But you’ve probably heard that before.

We play mind games all the time: puzzles, board games, mental math tables, etc.

But most people do not realize that their own mind plays games on them. We may be aware of the mind game consciously when we hear a noise in the dark and the mind flashes to an intruder, or a banging shutter. But the mind can also play subconscious tricks on you.

Some psychologists believe that the subconscious mind tricks as a defensive or coping mechanism. For example, past hurtful experiences may be housed in a section of the brain that is triggered under similar circumstances. When a shy person sees a person that is attractive, his subconscious mind triggers a hurtful memory of rejection so the shy person never attempts to say hello to the attractive lady. This sets off another reaction in the conscious mind of guilt, remorse, loneliness and shame. But a person usually can cope, in reality hide, with their internal demons than a public display of rejection that puts a cloud of group judgment on themselves.

Deja vu could also be the mental process in which to solve problems. In third grade, you did math tables. As an adult, you are trying to split a $36 bar tab three ways. You access that math table in an instant to figure out the share sums. You may not mentally flash to the third grade chalkboard, but the subconscious mind does that for you.

The whole concept of LOST's flash backs and flash forwards could have been incorporated into mental experiments by scientists trying to figure out the brain functions that trigger deja vu memory recall.

WHOLE WORLD SIMULATION PART TWO

There was a fan theory that LOST was just an elaborate computer game. The main characters were merely avatars in computer worlds (which do not have to conform to science, laws of physics or even continuity). Most fans discounted the game theory notion because the series had live actors so it seemed real.
 
But for a long time, scientists and philosophers have debated our own understanding of the world around us. There has been some traction that everything we know may just be part of a Matrix-style simulation, according to physicists who claim that we could all be part of a giant GAME.

A new theory has suggested that our entire lives and memories may not be real, instead being part of a computer program played by advanced robots, according to Yahoo News article.

The so-called ‘simulation argument’ has been theorized for several years, with noted academics including Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom, suggesting that the plot of The Matrix could be closer to real life than we think.

In the sci-fi classic, humans are bred in vats that are fed with simulations that make them believe they are living an ordinary life. Scientists say that we could all be living in the future, and our life in 2015 is nothing more than a series of numbers in a computer program.

It may sound like science fiction but scientists believe they may actually be able to PROVE that what you know isn’t what you know.

Marvin Minsky, one of the founders of artificial intelligence (AI) thinks that there may be tell-tale signs if the programmer of our mass simulation “has made some slips."

He said that some laws of physics that “aren’t quite right” could be the start of being able to prove that the universe is a simulation.

Silas Beane, from the University of Bonn, suggested several years ago that if humans were to build a small-sale simulation of the universe we would be able to identify any constraints. These constraints would include a cut-off in the spectrum of high energy particles - exactly the kind of cut off in the energy of cosmic rays. This would be the start of proving that our universe is not what it seems - and that it is part of a giant construct.

This is an interesting notion because of Daniel's express comments when he arrived at the island, that the light "acted differently" and the spectrum was off. This could be the biggest clue that the island itself was not what we viewed it as, but as another construct (with various other theories such as alternative dimension, time loop, mini-worm hole, alien space craft, different planet through a cosmic gateway, etc.)

These theories are not the first time that humans have debated whether we are actually real - French philosopher Rene Descartes theorized that nothing we perceive is true except our consciousness being aware of itself and its doubts - which is how the phrase ‘I think, therefore I am’ came about.

However, some believe that our own thoughts can also be part of a simulation or program that is being controlled by robots or aliens. The concept of "free will" may be artificial intelligence programming that allows people "choices" from various sets of rational, irrational, logical, illogical, emotional, intellectual, etc. 

But what about us as human beings? In the U.S.-U.K series Humans, android AI robots called synths look and act like human beings but they are just complex machines. They are called synths because that is what they are programmed to be; so there is no reason why artificial intelligent machines could be called "humans."

But then what about our own perceptions and senses, like touch, smell, vision? Again, in theory we occupy three dimensional space because that is what our brains process as three dimensional space. WE touch, hold, feel objects because our brain processes the tactile responses from the sensors in our hands and fingertips. At its core, that is merely data being processed by an organic computer module which automatically sends back feedback in the form of conscious recognition of touch, smell or imagines of the world around us.

It does put an introspective question to any human being. What is our true reality?

We may be organic beings, but could some other advanced civilization have created organic computing machines? We could be nanobots in a different universe. There is a basis for that belief because every time a scientist puts a prepared glass plate under a microscope, he will find an invisible world of microbes and viruses which have no perception of our world view. So, logically, in some other world view, we are microbes and viruses to another alien world.

Even our current generation of video games have graphics that begin to rival HD movie films. So the idea that perception is reality is something that everyone thinks about daily at a subconscious level.  It is when it reaches a conscious level discussion that things get strange.

In a logic program, the smoke monster may have been not a security system, but a software program to use to combat computer viruses (in the form of evil, destructive character avatars). 

But if humans are part of a complex computer program or network, does that put doubt into the meaning of our lives? Perhaps. And that may be the main reason why human beings need to pair bond, to form communities, share resources and values and create religious principles to calm and comfort those desiring a better explanation of life and death. All machines have a useful life expectancy. So do human beings. Creating circuit pathways to lead to productive output is the goal of both man and machine.  It may be the reason why some consider humans the greatest machines in history.

WHAT MYSTERY ARE YOU?

Buzzfeed has created an major business model on goofy quizzes which yield no significant, tangible results except for sharing results in social media circles.

By checking off some random photo choices, a participant gets spit out a result.

The answers included:

"What are these rules of which you speak, Charles Widmore?"
"Michael Abbadon, who are you?"
"What the fuq did that bomb do?"
 "WTF is the island?"
"Why are pregnant women dying?"
"What's up with the statue?"

THE BIG GAME

The Super Bowl ended on a controversial play. The Seahawks were ripped for throwing a slant pass at the one yard line. The Patriots rookie defensive back made a stellar play by reading it, reacting, and intercepting the pass to see New England's victory.

Once a person knows the rules of a game, then that person can create a strategy on how to win the game. One needs a strategy in order to coordinate his moves toward the path of victory.

But if one believes LOST was really a game engine where the main characters were pawns in some elaborate contest, does that hold up to scrutiny like the last Super Bowl play?

There are several possibilities of the game theory of LOST.

First, that LOST was merely the representation of a massive on-line first person adventure game. As such, the characters were not real but avatars on a computer screen. Each character would have had a real live person controlling their movements and actions (which we could assume mirror the players).  The nice aspect of this theory is that the series characters were constantly playing games, some outright and some coy manipulations. There were elements of extreme first person shooter violence. There were some adventure-danger elements like attacks and kidnaps. There were torturous means of finding information to lead characters on quests for answers. The initial premise was that the castaways wanted to find a means of rescue. And like a linear platformer, they had to move along on missions to find the means to get off the island (such as finding the radio tower, or the Hatch).

Second, that LOST was some sort of Westworld live-action danger theme park. In the movie, the mechanical robots go haywire, putting the guests in real danger. Likewise, the island could be considered a theme park that pits various "teams" against each other for the "control" of the island. It is like capture-the-flag with live ammo.

Third, that LOST was really a supernatural game of chess or Senet played by immortals Jacob and MIB. In Greek mythology, the gods would look down upon human beings as inferior play things. The gods would mess with their lives at will. By substituting real human beings for chess pieces, and manipulating their own "free" will into action, Jacob and MIB could have a formed an amusing but cruel chess match filled with chaotic outcomes.  And this could be the reason why Jacob continually brought more humans to their island to play game after game with MIB, who certainly was bored up to the point that the 815ers arrived on the island. A supernatural chess match makes the main characters human, alive but in a different level of existence which looks real, has real outcomes including death.

One of the supposed tenets of the show was that the island "had rules." Widmore and Ben claimed to each other that there was a rule violation (such as the killing of Alex by Widmore). However, technically the non-killing of family members did not apply to Alex, since Ben was not her real father. So when Ben was going to go after Penny, Widmore's daughter, it would have been Ben who was breaking the rules.

But we would later learn that the rules were whatever the island guardian decided them to be. So the rules were no rules. The only clear rule was that Crazy Mother decreed that Jacob and his brother could never kill each other. It was one god scolding and casting a spell on two lesser gods. But what happened? Jacob's brother killed Crazy Mother, and Jacob in turn set off the events to kill his own brother. So that rule was broken. Both Crazy Mother and brother were buried in the caves, with the smoke monster assuming the form of MIB to haunt Jacob for an eternity.

The game theory would work if there was an actual end game. One could still assume that the end game was rescue or leaving the island. Those few people who got on the Ajira plane may have been "the winners" of the game, but really what did they win? A future life of pain in the real world? If the ability to leave the island was a player's victory, then why did the O6 return to the island? Did they get a second life, a second chance to "level up" in strength and importance? No, Jack and Kate were subservient to Sawyer in the Others camp. Sayid was merely a shell crazy man. Sun was lost in another time.

And this is a basic problem with the plot of the show. There was no clear path to a defined conclusion of the island action. The sideways world resolution confused everyone because it marked "death" for every character as the "reward."  When is death the best option for a game player?

LIGHTER MOMENTS

Some of the best moments on LOST were the relaxed, normal human interaction (without the drama).

Hurley's "golf" course took our minds away from the relentless tension of the attacks, the smoke monster and the mysteries. It also showed a few of the main characters having uncharacteristic flaws, like Jack the Doctor not being able to hit a golf ball (contrary to the stereotypical country club physician).

Hurley's ping pong beat down of Sawyer was also funny. Sawyer had the skills to play people off each other, but when it came to a simple game against a perceived simpleton like Hurley, Sawyer was taken down a few pegs.

Kate and Jack played Sawyer poker for the return of medical supplies.

When Walt wanted to hang out with Locke and learn backgammon, it was a moment when Locke was able to teach Walt valuable life lessons, like the black and white chips. Walt was out of place going back to America with his father who was a stranger, but at the same time he felt his place on the out of place island. The conflict between symbols of black and white would guide many characters down paths of both good and evil.

One of the most shocking game moments in the series was when Kate's party attempted to rescue Jack from the Others, but found Jack playing a friendly game of football with Mr. Friendly on gthe barracks grounds. It was one of those WTH? moments.

The barracks also provided the scene for Hurley beating Sawyer in horse shoes because Hurley was "lucky." In reality, Hurley was quite good at games of chance, including Connect 4, at the mental institution. When Hurley was in deed "lucky," he was cursed (i.e. lottery win with the Numbers).

Games provide relief from the daily routine, boredom and despair of every day living . . . . and at least the LOST writers fit in a few normal moments of relaxation into the drama series. The lighter moments made things a little more believable, and more invested in the characters.

INTERCONNECTION

Advice columnist Ann Landers made in the 1990s this observation on the benefits of the Internet:

"It's wonderful for the lonely. There are a great many lonely people out there, and it makes them feel that they're a part of the living world. They can talk to somebody. Somebody will talk to them. And I think it's wonderful."

The characters in LOST fit that description a decade after she wrote those words.

Each of the main characters in the series were alone. A few had abandonment issues; a few had self-esteem issues; some were socially awkward; some harbored deep pain and resentment that they could not share with anyone. Loneliness is a yoke that chokes off a person's socialization in their community. Loners tend to withdraw into themselves. They tend to live in their own room, isolated from outside contact. There are few avenues of expression. They guard themselves against anything new, because they believe they will get hurt in the end.

So the characters have issues, deep issues.

The series focal point was Numbers, people as data. The candidates were numbers. The airplane was a number. The survivors were numbers. Numbers equate to a mathematical system, such as the basis of computer programs, modules and levels.

Some theorized that LOST represented the in-game, on-line community of loners who find their own community playing a survival game called LOST on the internet. Each person shown in the series is a representative avatar of a real person isolated in their dark, lonely room, waiting for interaction and missions with their "on-line" co-players. Like in any game, there are teams competing for something (power, control, territory, kills). The island is their game map. Exploration is part of the fun. Danger is part of the game play. How players interact with other is a key component to the outcome of the game itself. And that final reward for "winning" the game (through escape, sacrifice, redemption or whatever sub-code reward there is) was going to Heaven.

Simple ending to a complex on-line game which had little rules (or at least confusing rules).

LOCKE'S ISLAND

Of all the main characters, John Locke appeared to be the most "lost."

Even mentally impaired Hurley had a doting mother, and could have some social friends.

Jack had very few close friends, but he had the respect of his peers (until he went off the deep end).

Kate destroyed her own family, but found one girlfriend who was also running away from her troubles (Sawyer).

Sayid had betrayed much of his past, but he yearned to be reunited with his true love, Nadia.

Sawyer had the single minded avenger mentality to find the man who destroyed his family.

But Locke had nothing to counterbalance his own mental pain.

He had no friends.
He could not keep friends.
He lost Helen, the one person who could have given him a real life and home.
But he could not get beyond his own vision of personal hell.

And this lack of grip led him into fantasy delusions, such as being able to be an outback warrior even though he was confined to a wheelchair.

If the LOST story begins with the boarding of Flight 815 in Sydney, the man in the front of the line is Locke. He would have had an opportunity to view all his fellow passengers in the waiting area. He was the first to be seated by the crew, so he was on the plane to observe each passenger as they found their seats and stowed their luggage. He had the opportunity to make snap judgments on each person.

There is no question that his mental state was of bitterness, frustration and seething because he lacked control over the people and things around him.

And with this information, and his mind wired to play fantasy-strategy games, Locke could have channeled his anger against his fellow passengers. Misery loves company.

Could Locke's unbalanced emotional state have changed the course of Flight 815?
Could Locke's boiling anger explode the fuselage of the aircraft?
Could Locke's dreams of grandeur of himself created the Island as a symbol for what he wanted to be?

In any supernatural mystery, anything is possible.

Locke was the first, and only flight passenger, to have a deep "connection" to the island. He believed that he became one with it. He wanted to protect it from outsiders. He wanted to control it. He wanted to lead everyone through his vision of the present and his future.

As with everything in Locke's life, even this got screwed up by his own behavior. He had the opportunity to convince his fellow survivors that they should follow him because he had the skills to tame the island. But he failed. And once he failed, he began to search for a new island meaning to propel himself back in the spotlight of leadership. Again, he failed.

It would seem like Locke's life is a broken record of failure.

But if one looks at the island, it is a place of grand failure. Jacob was a failure, since Crazy Mother and his brother were killed. Jacob was a failure in bringing over centuries thousands of candidates to the island to watch them fail. Ben was a failure because his leadership dream was destroyed when he killed Jacob. Jack's pinnacle achievement in leadership (saving his remaining friends) led to his death for no apparent reason. Nothing here is noble. Nothing here is sacrifice. Nothing here is true redemption.

If the island is a symbol of failure, then it could be called Locke's Island.

SPIRITUALISM

There are many proponents that LOST was merely about spiritualism. In a general sense, it did not matter how anything worked, it was about the exploration of human beings to their non-material selves.

The idea of spiritualism in American culture is not new. One of the longest lasting board games, Ouiji, came from American spiritualism craze of the 1800s.

The Ouija board was created out of the American 19th century obsession with spiritualism, the belief that the dead are able to communicate with the living. Spiritualism, which had been around for years in Europe, hit America hard in 1848 with the sudden prominence of the Fox sisters of upstate New York. The Fox sisters became celebrities because of their claims that they could  receive messages from spirits, who rapped on the walls in answer to questions. By recreating this feat of channeling spirits, these gatherings started in parlors across the state. Aided by the stories about the celebrity sisters and other spiritualists in the new national press, spiritualism reached millions of adherents at its peak in the second half of the 19th century. 

Spiritualism worked for Americans: it was compatible with Christian dogma, meaning one could hold a seance on Saturday night and have no qualms about going to church the next day. It was an acceptable, even wholesome activity to contact spirits at seances, through automatic writing, or table turning parties, in which participants would place their hands on a small table and watch it begin shake and rattle, while they all declared that they weren’t moving it. Spiritualism also offered solace in an era when the average lifespan was less than 50 years: young women died in childbirth; children died of disease; and men died in war. During the Civil War, spiritualism gained adherents in droves, people desperate to connect with loved ones who’d gone away to war and never come home.

People wanted to believe that they could communicate with the dead loved ones. No one considered that the process could open the gates of hell. They wanted comfort from their troubled times.

In 1886, the Associated Press reported on a new phenomenon taking over the spiritualists’ camps in Ohio, "the talking board."  it was, for all intents and purposes, a Ouija board, with letters, numbers and a planchette-like device to point to them.

 

The Kennard Novelty Company, the first mass producers of the Ouija board seized upon the spiritualism movement's frustration with how long it took to get any meaningful message out of the spirits; calling out the alphabet and waiting for a knock at the right letter, for example, was deeply boring. After all, rapid communication such as the telegraph had been around for decades—people began to wonder why shouldn’t spirits be as easy to reach?  On February 10, 1891, the U.S. Patent Office awarded a patent for the Ouija board as  new “toy or game.” The first patent offers no explanation as to how the device works, just asserts that it does.

When people want something badly, their innate common sense can be lost in the moment. When desperate people want answers, they may throw their entire being into the unknown.

Perhaps, this was the ribbon that tied LOST's characters together. The island represented a transparent spirit board that allowed the characters to try to re-connect to their pasts. We observed that Hurley and Miles had abilities to communicate with the dead. Jacob had the ability to cast ghostly apparitions of himself as a child and as an adult. The smoke monster could create dead people to confront their loved ones, like Yemi to Mr. Eko.

Except, how did the island work its spiritual code on the characters? Locke used his vision quests to try to connect to the island. Desmond, through massive dose of radiation, began to mentally time flash to apparent future events. But they were not asking the island for answers; it was more that the island was telling or guiding them down certain paths.

If spiritualism is a key to LOST, then the series was more like a game than we were led to believe.

ISLAND VISIONS

Boone had a vivid, "real" vision of his sister Shannon being killed by the smoke monster. It was so real that Boone blamed Locke by attacking him with a knife. Locke explained that he drugged Boone in order for him to have his vision, so he could understand the island better.

Locke was apparently one of the first survivors to make a "connection" with the island. But he was not alone in the island creating visions.

The series is littered with hallucination episodes.

In Season 1:
Jack repeatedly sees his dead father, Christian, in the jungle.
Claire has a dream about looking for her lost baby, encountering Locke, and finding the crib filled with blood.
Boone has an illicit dream with Shannon, later to find her killed by the smoke monster.
Locke dreams of a Nigerian drug plane crash on the island. He also becomes wheelchair bound again. He also sees a blood covered Boone blankly repeating "Theresa goes up the stairs, Theresa goes down the stairs."

In Season 2:
Shannon has three visions of Walt: a) while searching for Vincent, she sees Walt speak in gibberish to her (backwards: "Don't push the button. Button bad."), b) in her tent, Walt speaks backwards again "They're coming, and they're close," and c) while searching for Walt with Sayid, both glimpse a vision of Walt in the jungle.
Hurley dreams of gorging on food, speaking Korean to Jin and sees the mascot for Mr. Cluck's.
Kate and Sawyer sees Kate's horse in the jungle.
Mr. Eko sees flashes of his life when the smoke monster confronts him.
Charlie has two dreams about needing to save Claire's child, which include images from his childhood and a painting by Verrocchio.
Hurley has visions and conversations with his imaginary friend, Dave.
Mr. Eko has a dream featuring Anna Lucia and Yemi in which they tell him to help Locke, and instructions from Yemi to look for a question mark.
Locke has a dream from Eko's point of view, where he climbs a cliff and meets Yemi.

In Season 3:
Locke goes on a "vision quest" in which is is guided by Boone and instructed to save
Eko.
Desmond has a series of mental flashes in which he sees future events: a) Locke giving a speech about going after kidnapped Jack, Kate and Sawyer; b) Lightning striking Claire's hut, killing Charlie; c) Charlie drowning trying to save Claire; d) Charlie dying in the ocean while trying to catch a seagull for Claire; e) Charlie is killed by an arrow trap on a mission to find a parachutist; and f) Charlie drowning while flipping a switch in a hatch; Claire and Aaron then leaving the island in a helicopter.
Mr. Eko has a confrontation conversation with Yemi.
Young Ben sees his dead mother on the island.
Locke, after being shot by Ben in the purge mass grave, has a vision of grown Walt telling him to get up because he has "work to do."

In Season 4:
Hurley has several visions of Charlie: a) in a convenience store; b) in the LAPD interrogation room; and c) outdoors at the mental institution (where Charlie physically slaps him into conversation).
Hurley sees Jacob's cabin on the island, which follows him until he wills it to disappear.
Michael has two visions of Libby, once in the hospital and once before he tries to set off the bomb on the freighter.
Jack sees a vision of his father in the hospital lobby after hearing a smoke detector go off.
Claire talks to her dead father, Christian, on the island. Christian can pick up Aaron.
Locke dreams of Horace building a cabin for his wife. Horace tells Locke to find Jacob he must find Horace who has been dead for 12 years. (In this vision, the image of Horace skips and repeats like a broken record for a short time.)
Kate has a dream that Claire tells her she cannot take Aaron back to the island.
On the freighter, Michael sees Christian who tells him that "he can go now."

In Season 5:
Hurley has a vision of Ana Lucia, who stops him to tell him he has "work to do."
Locke is told by Walt that Walt had a dream about Locke on the island, in a suit, surrounded by people who wanted to kill him.

In Season 6:
Hurley sees dead Jacob, who instructs him to go to the Temple and the Lighthouse.
Sawyer and Flocke see a vision of young Jacob in the jungle. Flocke is surprised that Sawyer can see him.
Alpert sees his dead wife Isabella in the the Black Rock.
Isabella appears before both Hurley and Alpert on the island near where Alpert buried her locket.
Hurley sees dead Michael twice, first to warns him not to blow up the Ajira plane and second, to tell him to destroy the Black Rock. (In this encounter, Michael claims he is a whisper, a trapped soul on the island.)

Many of these visions or dreams involve interaction with dead characters. The acceptance of speaking directly to dead people freaks out only Hurley (momentarily).

What do many of these occurrences have in common? The smoke monster. The monster could shape shift and create human forms. It admitted that it was Christian on the island. As a result, it could be argued that the hallucinations and visions character had during the series were projections created by the smoke monster. The motivation of these visions is clear: to manipulate, confuse and create anxiety in the characters. It is like a person dangling a feather above house cats; a form of play. Many characters used their visions to guide them in their decision making process, usually with bad results.

There have been theories that the series was just a series of character dreams, individual or collective. But it is also possible that the dreams were actual programs or commands imputed by the smoke monster(s) to move the human characters around their game board (the island). Supernatural beings playing a supernatural game of backgammon.

This supernatural trick and manipulation also follows in the ancient Egyptian burial rites where the king must take a dangerous journey through the underworld. He may be tricked by the underworld gods, go through trials, and be judged by the decisions he makes during the course of finding a way to paradise. The Book of the Dead was a manual on how to traverse the underworld. It allowed the king to bring with him his servants, consorts, food, weapons, and magic spells to help in his journey. The underworld gods also had a childlike cruelty in their game play with lost souls.

Locke's "connection" with the island may have seemed real to him, but it was clearly a manipulation by higher forces. Locke believed in the island, but the island used him like a pawn.

But this raises an interesting question: if these "waking" visions of dead people were the smoke monster, could it also have controlled the characters dreams while they were asleep? Anything is possible, and based on the number of incidents, it is probable. Since Christian's body was not in the coffin, Smokey had to create his image from Jack's memories. In fact, the entire island may have been built upon the memories of those unfortunate souls who were shipwrecked on the island. Crazy Mother was a smoke monster when she destroyed the Roman village. Flocke turned into the smoke monster and attacked the temple. The smoke monster was not just a security system, but the entire island system. It created everything from the memories of human beings, including their feelings, emotional strings, their fears, their experiences and their goals. It "replays" those events to see how human beings react or change. It is not a moral, religious or redemptive series of tests. No, perhaps the smoke monster(s) are using human beings the same way our scientists use lab rats to run through mazes and tests. The whole series was data acquisition by the smoke monsters to understand the human condition.

But, then again, the ending seems to fall outside the realm of island experimentation. Unless, one believes that the smoke monster master(s) became "attached" to their pets in such a fashion to use their collective memories to give them a final illusion of happiness upon their mortal demise.

GAME PLAY

If one looks at LOST purely as a video game, what would be the purpose and game play?

It would seem the characters would be avatars in an open world MMO.

It would also seem that the goal of the game could be a variation of "Follow the Leader."

And the game ended only after Jack became the Leader and when he ran out of life force and died.

So, even in that situation, what was the reward or level-up?  The end church could represent Jack's true followers. And when Christian opens the doorway, this could mean they all were going to the level game level as a team.  All the characters came to the island as individuals. The situations made it impossible to stay unattached or alone for very long. One had to make pacts, deals, friendships in order to stay in groups. There is power in numbers. There is strength in numbers.

The missions were all convoluted in logic, but they did serve the purpose of gaining leadership points and followers.

And what leadership role was everyone fighting for? Jacob's island guardianship seems to be the top prize. Jacob had a huge following of Others on the island and in the Temple. But MIB destroyed much of that following leaving only a hand full of beach survivors as candidates. When Jack accepted the island leadership role from Jacob, he still had to defeat MIB who was on the verge of completing its own coup. When Jack defeated MIB (with the help of Kate), that ended his quest. Jack won the game.

The game would then have been played from Jack's point of view. This was Jack's game journey that the viewers rode along, shotgun. It was Jack's struggles to be leader, to make life and death decisions, to make deals, break his word, lead missions, make mistakes, and then finally get enough followers to trust him fully that they would all be rewarded in the end.

This is probably one of the weaker theories in the LOST universe. Who would want to merely observe another person playing a video game? But in one sense, with so many people identifying and rooting for specific characters, viewers did have a vicarious in game action with their favorite characters.

A VICIOUS CIRCLE

It was one of those recent random thoughts that got my attention.

What if LOST never ended?

Ben consoled Hurley when he became the new island guardian with the concept that Hurley could do the right thing and allow an injured Desmond to leave the island and go home. (Besides the philosophic connotation of what "home" could be - - - reality or heaven - - - will be left for another post.)

But we observed that the island had a continual cycle of people coming to the island to be "candidates" in Jacob and MIB's game of human Senet. As stated in previous posts, there is no clear, direct evidence that Jacob or MIB actually ceased to exist when they were allegedly "killed."

At the end of the island story arc, we have only nine main survivors:

Ben, Hurley and Desmond, who are left by the light cave to mourn the demise of their friend.

Frank, Miles, and Alpert are ready to take off on the Ajira plane when they are interrupted by the presence of Kate, Sawyer and Claire running toward them.

Claire told Kate that she won't come with them to the plane because the Island has made her crazy. Kate offered to help her, which convinced her to go with them. The plane is seen flying overhead a dying Jack.

But what are the survivors looking forward to?

Frank has nothing to back to since no one would believe his story about "losing" his plane and passengers on a mysterious island. He is only second person able to escape the island twice (Kate is the other). One would think the island would cause Frank mental problems for the rest of his life.

Claire already acknowledges her crazy state of mind caused by the island. Upon her return, we would assume she would remain crazy. This puts her in the mode of Locke's mother, who was institutionalized when he was a small boy. Perhaps Locke's childhood drawings of the smoke monster and island events were stories past down to him by his mother, who had escaped the island. This would be down the basis of a new theory that the candidates were not randomly chosen by Jacob, but bred or conditioned to come to the island.

Kate returns to nothing. Even if Claire takes back Aaron, she would be in Australia. Kate would be alone, without purpose, stuck in LA pining away for dead Jack? How long would that fact led to Kate being depressed to suicidal like Locke's life prior to meeting his con artist father?

If Kate returns to nothing, Alpert would be transported to an alien world. He has no family, no friends and no place to call home back in the United States. He was an unemployed island minion. We think that his immortality ended with a single gray hair. But what if he is still tethered to the island, like Mr. Abaddon?

Sawyer's life long quest for revenge is over. The whole purpose of his life was completed by the death of Cooper on the island. Sawyer's return has one pending murder investigation in Australia, but it is not likely that case would be solved unless his buddy who gave him the hit confessed that he sent Sawyer to kill that man he thought killed his parents. So Sawyer returns to the states as a "dead man" in more than one way: no job, no family and no future except a return to his criminal ways. If Juliet was the love of his life, would he get over her quickly?

Miles is in a similar situation of Sawyer. He returns to the states the son of island scientist, one of the few people conceived on the island who survived. His ability to listen to the final echo thoughts of the dead may be that native connection to the island itself. One would think that after being on the island, Miles would be haunted by it in future years.

The people on the Ajira flight we saw leave the island all had the seeds of doubt and misery that could have drawn them back into the clutches of the island destiny as it did Locke.

Which may have been the plan all along. Jacob and MIB's human game of Senet spanned thousands of years and countless number of people. It was a chess match with real people and real weapons. A life and death amusement for immortal beings bored with their island existence.

When Hurley, Ben and Desmond presumably left the island, it is possible that Jacob and MIB would wait for the other survivors to "return" to the island to re-populate their game.  As you recall, the game of Senet is "won" when the player removes his last piece off the board (island). Both Jacob and MIB never left the island - - - both "died" on it. That may be the only way the island ceases to exist: when either Jacob or MIB physically leaves the island as the last piece standing. That did not happen. Until that point, when Hurley leaves the island for good, the vicious Jacob-MIB game restarts again.

Claire is the new Locke's crazy mother (to Aaron). Aaron may grow up to believe that he has an island destiny. The same could be true of Walt, who was "special" and of extreme interest to the Others until he escaped with his father. It is possible that Walt's intense father issues would make him the next Jack.

THE GUARDIAN

In an attempt to flow chart the complex relationships to formulate a set of rules, the above graphic is a representation of the white, black and gray character elements. Crazy Mother is both good and bad (gray). She brought the island visitors much like Jacob did, but her purpose is clouded but may be the same as Jacobs; she was tired of being the guardian.  The red lines show the pattern of killing done by the god-like immortals. For all the "rules," it is apparent that Crazy Mother could kill directly (Claudia and the other island villagers). MIB directly killed Crazy Mother (it is debatable whether there was some rule broken in MIB's rage). Jacob then killed MIB by throwing his body into the light cave (whether one calls it direct or indirect the result is the same).  But in the next centuries, it is apparent that MIB continued to kill visitors as the smoke monster. However, one slight change occurred that altered the cycle of killing: it appears that island followers and candidates killed off each other at times. But in the final cycle, a "candidate" killed both Jacob (Linus) and MIB (Kate). Had that ever happened before?

Was the key to MIB's loophole the fact that if he got a candidate to "kill" Jacob, he would regain his humanity (mortality)? And was Jacob's ultimate demise conditioned upon a candidate killing MIB? It would seem so. Crazy Mom's demise was at the hands of one of her "candidates" to replace her.

So what is the significance of both Jacob and MIB being killed by candidates on the island? One could consider that just like the stone cork in the light cave, Jacob and MIB were the symbolic cork that closed the nexus or portal to the character's sideways world.

It would seem to be a simpleton "eye for an eye" loophole. But it had to be difficult to organize and pull off. For Jacob kept himself secreted in the statue or the mystery cabin. He had intermediaries who would keep "candidates" at bay until MIB manipulated them to "follow" him. And once chaos reigned in the island hierarchy, Jacob had to make himself seen among the followers. That left him open to attack.

For what is the portal to our original 815 characters. For those in "everybody was dead" camp, an explanation. Jack's eye was closed at the beginning of the series. What does not truly mean? Why did he land far away from his plane section (Rose was right next to him)? If we look internally for symmetry, when Jack closed his eye in the finale it meant that the was dead. The loop had come back around. If a closed eye represents death, then Jack was dead in the crash. If an eye opening represents "awakening" or "rebirth" then Jack's eye opening in the pilot meant that part of him was reborn on the island (his body) while his soul went on to help create the sideways world. The sideways world had to have been created when everyone was together - - - possibly during the electromagnetic blast that took down the plane. It would explain why there are parallels between the two places. But there was a barrier between the reincarnated on the island and the souls in the sideways plane of existence. That barrier was the island and its guardian, who had the power to manipulate time and space, in order to release himself from the eternal prison of the island.

In one respect, the island also served as a prison for the 815 characters. Part of them were trapped in the island drama for no apparent reason except to free Jacob and MIB from their servitude to some unknown higher deity. Perhaps, with Jacob and MIB's island deaths, they would be awakened in their own parallel sideways world that their real mother created for them.

REBOOT EPISODES 113-116

POSTING NOTE: Due to work changes, I may not be able to post updates on Tuesdays after Monday night marathon G4 reruns, but updates will occur later in the week.

LOST REBOOT 
Recap: Episodes 113-116 (Days ????- - ????)

Widmore’s people kidnap Jin and Flocke vows to get him back. Widmore has Desmond brought to the island for an experiment... one that will allow Desmond to visit the alternate reality. Hurley tries to figure out how to save everyone; and Flocke meets up with Desmond. As alliances are formed, broken and merged, Widmore gives everyone an ultimatum.

Flocke meets Widmore. As Jin tries to leave he, Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Sayid and the rest of the group are struck by darts and all pass out. Widmore's team step amongst the bodies until they find Jin and Zoe says to take him.

Dez wakes up and discovers he is back on the island. Desmond attacks Widmore and has to be restrained. He screams to take him back but Widmore tells him that he cannot, saying "the Island isn't done with you yet" ( a line previously used by Mr. Friendly to Michael in NYC). As Widmore leaves the room, Jin, who has been standing just outside watching, asks Widmore what Desmond is doing on the Island. Widmore says he will show Jin and tells Zoe to bring Jin to the generator room where they can start the test.

Hurley is visiting Libby’s grave when whispers are heard and ghost Michael appears. Michael says that he has come to stop Hurley from getting everyone killed. Hurley asks why he should trust Michael, as he murdered Libby, but Michael says that it doesn't matter because if Hurley blows up the plane a lot of people will die and, because people are listening to Hurley now, it will be his fault.
At the beach camp Ilana arrives saying that they must make it to Hydra Island to destroy the plane before nightfall. She tells Alpert that she has four sticks of dynamite from the Black Rock. Hurley overhears and says he doesn't think it is a good idea, especially as the dynamite is so unstable. Ilana says that she must do this to protect them; Hurley asks how blowing up the plane will protect them. Ilana says that it is the only way to prevent that "thing" (Flocke) from leaving. She repeats that Jacob said that Richard knows what to do and that he said to blow up the plane. As she speaks she drops her pack and the dynamite inside explodes, killing her and knocking Hurley and the others down.

Richard tells Hurley that now they must get more dynamite or Ilana's death will have been in vain. Hurley speaks up authoritatively saying Richard is right and that it is the only choice they have, he looks Jack in the eye and asks him to trust him. After a long pause Jack agrees. They arrive at the Black Rock and realize that Hurley is not with them. Just then, Hurley comes running out of the ship, shouting to them all to run. The Black Rock explodes and is destroyed.

Richard demands to know why Hurley did it. Hurley replies that he is protecting them. Richard storms off saying that they are now doomed. Miles asks Hurley why he did it; Hurley says that Michael told him to, that Michael is one of the dead people who come and "yell" at him. Miles asks whether Hurley just does whatever the dead people say. Hurley responds that the dead people are more reliable than the living.

As Flocke and Jack's groups merge, alliances are forged and broken. Jack says that what bothers him is that he has no idea what the hell Locke is.  Flocke says he chose Locke's body because Locke was stupid enough to think he was on the Island for a reason, and he pursued that idea until it got him killed. Flocke says that he needed Locke's dead body to look like him. Flocke goads Jack by asking whether he thinks he may have impersonated anyone else in the past. Jack asks whether "Locke" had ever impersonated his father. "Locke" says that he did, simply because the castaways needed to be shown where water was located. Flocke replies he was only ever trying to help Jack to leave but Jack had always been trapped because Jacob had chosen him. But Jacob was now dead so he was no longer trapped and could fly away, but only if it was "all of us." He adds that John Locke was not a believer but a sucker.

Flocke addresses his camp saying how nice it is to have everyone back together again. Kate joins Jack who again says he is not sure whether to leave with Locke. Zoe arrives to ask Locke to return what he had taken. Flocke says he doesn't know she is talking about. Zoe uses a two way radio to confirm they have a fix on her position and asks for them to show Locke what they are capable of. A mortar round flies overhead and explodes nearby.

Flocke says to his camp their hands have been forced by the Widmore group who are provoking a confrontation. He tells the camp to gather their things to go to Hydra Island and get on the plane. Sawyer is given orders to get all the candidates to Hydra Island. Sawyer asks Kate to come with him. Flocke calls Sayid over and takes him aside. Sawyer whispers to Jack that he isn't going to rendezvous with Flocke but wants Jack find a way to sneak off with Sun, Hurley and Frank to meet them at an old dock. They will then all go to Hydra Island to meet Widmore, who he has a deal with. He explains that Claire is nuts and gave up her ticket when she tried to kill Kate.

Flocke leads his 23 followers toward the rendezvous point. Claire tells Jack that she trusts Flocke because he is the only one who didn't abandon her. Flocke drops back, concerned that Sayid has not joined them. He asks Sun whether she has seen Sayid. She writes a note saying that he did this (her inability to talk) to her. Flocke stomps off saying he didn't do anything to her. He tells Cindy he is going to find Sayid and runs off. Jack takes the chance and gathers Hurley, Sun and Frank but Claire observes and follows them.

Flocke finds Sayid and wonders why he took so long. Sayid tells him he just killed an unarmed man and that he needed a moment. There is tension as he says that he killed Desmond and that Locke could go and check if he wishes. Even as Flocke leaves Sayid holds back a moment.
Sawyer's group arrive at Hydra Island and swim ashore. Widmore's people confront them with guns but lower their arms when Zoe says that she knows Sawyer. Jin arrives, spots Sun and runs to embrace her.

Jack swims back to the beach where Flocke and seven followers await on shore. Flocke makes light of Jack's swim and confirms with Jack that Sawyer has taken "his" boat. Widmore fires the mortar, its rounds land in their midst and throws Jack and some of the others through the air. Flocke runs to Jack who is prone in the sand and carries him inland as another shell hits. Flocke puts Jack down and says to him that he should not worry, because: "You're with me now."

Science:

Japanese researchers have pioneered new technology enabling them to observe neural activity occurring in the zebrafish brain in real time.

In its embryonic and larval stages, the zebrafish's body remains transparent, making it an ideal candidate for the fluorescence imaging study undertaken by scientists at Japan’s National Institute for Genetics. That unique property allows researchers to observe the body's underlying structures directly, either with the naked eye or under magnification. By developing a chemical marker that can be inserted directly into the relevant neurons of interest and detected by a fluorescent probe, the scientists enabled a close study of the activity occurring within the zebrafish brain at the level of a single cell. They introduced a genetically encoded calcium indicator that glows green in the presence of calcium, signaling a quantifiable increase in brain activity. As areas of the fish’s brain lit up in response to a moving stimulus, the researchers were able to keep track of neural firing at any given moment, tracing the path of the fish’s thought as it occurred.

In order to make sure they would be able to monitor the correct parts of the working zebrafish brain, the scientists first identified the relevant neurons that became active in response to a moving object and created a model of how they anticipated the neurons would react to other patterns of movement. They then tempted their subject by releasing single-celled paramecia, a common zebrafish food source, into its environment. The expected neurons glowed in accordance with the researchers’ forecast, thereby validating their predictive model.

This research begins the basis of animals' neural patterns, including humans. The researchers hope to interpret an animal’s behavior, including learning and memory, fear, joy, or anger, based on the activity of particular combinations of neurons.

Clues:

The package is the secret weapon, Desmond. His “ability” to withstand high concentration of electromagnetic energy gives Widmore the alleged ability to destroy the smoke creature and stop it from leaving the island.

Flocke explains that only a few names remain which haven't been crossed off and that "Kwon" is one of them. The Man in Black says he is not sure whether it refers to Sun or Jin. In Korean culture, the bride would keep her own name, so the candidate appears to be Jin. The Man in Black says that the only way that they can leave the Island is if all the names that are not crossed off leave together. So, in order to be released from Jacob or the island’s hold, Flocke must recruit all Jacob’s remaining candidates and leave with them “together.”

Sayid tells the Man in Black that he doesn't feel anything – anger, happiness, pain. Flocke says that that may be best to get through what is coming. This confirms that Sayid is “dead,” and knowledge of that fact will change how Sayid perceives everything around him.

Desmond is tied to a chair between the solenoid coils. Widmore tells Desmond that once the experiment is over he will ask Desmond to make a sacrifice. Desmond cynically asks Widmore what he knows about sacrifice. Widmore tells him that his son died here for the sake of the Island, that Penny hates him and that he hasn't even met his grandson. He adds that if Desmond won't help, it will all be for nothing as everyone will be gone forever.  This is the high stakes end game: the statement that “everyone will cease to exist” is a fate worse than death.

Everybody Loves Hugo, especially in the sideways world, which truly is a fantasy “Happily Ever After” place.

The Last Recruit for Flocke is Jack. In order for Flocke to “win” the game, he needs Jack to be his loyal follower.

In the past, tomatoes were considered poison because they are part of the nightshade family. It is odd that Dynamite Jack found a single tomato on a dead vine in an overgrown garden. It may show a symbol to Sun that they are truly dead in this Garden of Eden. It is possible that Sun hit her head and "died" like Sayid, and now has to be "retouched" to be claimed by either Jacob or MIB.  Sun refused to follow Richard to Hydra Island, but in the end she agrees to the same thing with Jack. Question: did we really see Jack with Sun or someone else in Jack's form?

Flocke" tells Sayid to go to the  well and kill Desmond. Sayid hesitates prompting Flocke to check that he still wants what he asked for. Sayid says that he does and heads to the well.  At the well Desmond is sitting in water at the bottom as Sayid points his gun. Desmond calmly asks what Flocke offered Sayid. Sayid says he him he could get the woman he loved back, even though she was dead. Desmond asks why he would believe Flocke could help. Sayid says that he was dead. Finally Desmond asks what Sayid will say to his beloved when she asks what he had to do to be with her again. The concept of the characters realizing their own death opens the door for them to move on in the afterlife.


Hugo figures out that the whispers are people like Michael, who are trapped souls, who cannot leave because of what they had done. This clearly shows that the island is "A Place of Death," where souls are tested, sacrificed and redeemed by their actions.

The end game appears to be a game of “tag” and “follow the leader.”  If Flocke/MIB can get all remaining six characters on his “team” he says he can leave the island (which is his goal). But Jacob had “trapped” MIB and the candidates to the island. But since Jacob “was dead” no one is trapped on the island anymore. But, the O6 left the island so they were not “trapped.” Was it a means of keeping the pawns outside of Flocke’s control? Was the time shifts also part of the plan? It seems too simple to have Flocke take the living candidates off the island unlocks his freedom from the island.


Discussion:

“ Whatever you have, you must either use or lose. ”
— Henry Ford

“ Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible. ”
— Frank L. Gaines

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
--- Arthur C. Clarke-

“Do you buy that?” Miles asks about Sun’s sudden English amnesia. No, Miles, we do not. For the language center of the brain controls both Korean and English, right? And when Jack appears to her and says she can communicate by “written” pen and paper, this is a leap because her “tutor” was only verbal and we did not see any written education. It may be a small point (but continuity errors can snowball into a cascade of doubt).

In a 2007 discussion, JJ Abrams talked about “the mystery box,” the key information that’s withheld in a story that makes the story intriguing and compelling. As he puts it: “The intentional withholding of information is much more engaging.”

But even fans concluded that Abrams must mean that part of the story that he hasn’t figured out and never will but which permits the leaps of story logic and inconsistent character behavior that animate all his series. As a fan critic once said, “There’s a fundamental flaw to his Mystery Box logic, especially in regards to LOST. When you start stacking mystery box on top of mystery box on top of mystery box without opening any of them (no pay off at all for the audience), you end up with a whole bunch of crappy boxes sitting around.”

There a lot of stacked up, empty moving boxes in the Season 6 story line. Now, imidway through the final season, there is no sense of total purpose. [...] The main characters have no idea what their roles are in the island melodrama."

To some extend they've always been the objects rather than the subjects of the action, but this season it seems to be extreme. Sawyer appears to be an exception, Hurley to some degree, even if it is just following mind!Jacob's orders. This episode Jin and Sun tried to assert themselves, but then promptly were either kidnapped or ran into a tree.

How does Hawking know if the O6 did not return to the island, "god help us all?"
How does Widmore know that if he does not stop Flocke, everyone would cease to exist?

If there was a good reason (to save humanity from destruction from "X") for the main characters to be on that island, then why doesn't somebody tell them that? Why not tell the people you need what is "X?" Wouldn't that be motivation enough for Jack the fixer to try to save the world? Or Sawyer's self preservation skills try to save the world to save himself?

Substance and clarity and not further on- and off-island manipulations is what we need now. Without knowing "X," we don't know why.

How does Widmore know that if he does not stop Flocke, everyone would cease to exist?"
According to Widmore himself via "myths, ghost stories, and noises in the jungle" (paraphrased). Seems like awfully shaky grounds to built this conclusion on.

"If there was a good reason (to save humanity from destruction from "X") for the main characters to be on that island, then why doesn't somebody tell them that?"

Yes, that is the question, isn't it? In The Lighthouse Jacob told Hurley that Jack had to figure out by himself what to do. But why? Who knows? (Apparently we don't.)

Our Candidates for greatness have rarely tried to figure things out (in fact, most have been content at running away from their problems rather than solving them).

So in the big picture, our Candidates need to make the connection that MIB is a great evil spirit, then on their own figure out how to deal with it (destroy or contain it)? Sounds like it is outside their collective SAT scores.

So how does one stop an evil spirit? Some theologists believe that evil spirits cannot act directly upon a person; they can only manipulate you to do something of your own accord (serpent in the garden of Eden). The battle between good and evil is fought in one's own mind. I don't like the idea of a computer graphic light bulb going off over the head of a Candidate, then he or she closes his or her eyes, and wishes Smokey/MIB away (mind over matter).

What is the point of withholding "X?"

Is it that motive is as important, perhaps even more important than action?

I think most people would forfeit their lives in order to save all humanity. But not many people would forfeit their lives to save the stranger next to them. Is that why they are withholding "X"? To separate the chaff from the grain? Are they trying to determine whose motive is pure?

Sawyer jumped from the helicopter for the safety of his fellow passengers. Kate put her own well being in jeopardy when she went back to help Claire. Charlie sacrificed his life for others, Desmond turned that key thinking he would die in the process.

Earlier when I wondered if MIB might be suicidal, I wasn't thinking in of terms of his doing it to prevent or accomplish this or that, I was thinking in terms of his killing himself and the hell with anyone else who might perish as a result. Supreme selfishness.

"Our Candidates for greatness have rarely tried to figure things out (in fact, most have been content at running away from their problems rather than solving them)."

Jacob seems to think there is a good reason for not telling the Losties anything. The only reasonable people left on the Island seem to be Sun, Jin, and Sawyer (perhaps add Frank and Miles, since they just let others duke it out; and Rose, Bernard and other secondary Losties if they are still around somewhere). Sun, Jin, and Sawyer are the only ones who keep their eyes on the real goal: Find their loved ones and get off the Island, all the others are just being dragged over the Island playing a game they don't know the rules or the goals of and in which they are the pawns. At least MIB seems honest about his goals (getting of the Island), if not always about his means, but he has the downside of killing people by the dozen.

Is it that motive is as important, perhaps even more important than action?

One needs to know what he is facing in order to make choices on how to act. If "X" is the devil, that information would be needed to determine what to do and how to solve the problem (i.e. pray really really hard). If "X" is an alien overlord bent on destroying the earth, then you would at least plot some strategy to lock "X" down or find a weakness.

At this point, many viewers were totally confused by the inaction, the waiting game, and then the sudden burst of actions premised on lies. Viewers did not like  the "Let's Make A Deal" choice given to the characters:  do you want what's in the box or what's behind the curtain? Yes, the goofy contestant's motivation is pure greed, and the choice is freely made, but is that how Lost is supposed to end? By blind stumbling luck?

The sideways world has always been the nonsensical filler arc to end the series.

It is a mirror world of the dead characters really, really being dead. However, it seems that their island world memories “bleed” through to the sideways world, especially after “near death” experiences in the sideways realm. How is that possible?

If we look to ancient Egyptian belief, a person’s soul gets split at death in various forms (the ba and ka). In the Lost universe, it appears that the conscious mind is trapped in the island realm while the subconscious mind is in the sideways after life world. The overlap, or flashes of memories, is what some people in the island world call “insanity.”

In Egyptian religious beliefs, it is only when the spirits of the ba and ka are reunited, merged, after the soul has gone through the underworld, can a person have a complete after life. If one does not emerge from the underworld tests, there is a fate worse than death or living in hell, it is “non-existence.” Several references have been made that if Flocke leaves the island, everything and everyone the characters knew would cease to exist. This infers that the Lost character group is an after life affiliation of desperate souls trying to collectively get out of the underworld to have an afterlife in the sideways realm of heaven.

The twist is that in Egyptian mythology, the underworld gods do not seek to leave Hell. They are appeased by the fact of judging souls; to determine whether their hearts are pure or evil.

So it appears that Flocke, as the smoke monster, is not an Egyptian underworld god, per se. From all of the bits of information, and the past history of the island story of Jacob and his brother, it seems that the smoke creature is mechanical, an electromagnetic nano-swarm which can scan people’s memories, and to shape shift into different forms (humans, animals, etc.). The sonic fence must have a frequency (wave lengths) that interfere with the smoke creature’s electromagnetic functions and cohesion, as Flocke does not wander into the pylons on Hydra Island. Widmore must think that Desmond is a “walking sonic fence,” an EM conduit capable of grabbing hold of Flocke and destroying it.

Except, we never see or hear how Desmond is going to “destroy” Flocke. No one has any clue on how to kill Flocke. In the rocket attack on the beach, Flocke does not flinch when the explosions happen around him. He knows he cannot be destroyed by rockets, bullets or knife blade.

If Widmore thinks Desmond is the key to stopping or containing MIB, there is no evidence of any skill set Dez had on the island except a) punching numbers in a keyboard, and b) running through the jungle.  Desmond is cued to be different:

- he is the only "character" who got the vaccine against "infection" (maybe "infection" from MIB and/or Jacob)

- he is able to switch between "timelines"

- he is not on the "list"
- he is not affected by the "rules" (Mrs. Hawking told him)

But none of these “special” characteristics is weaponized in the story line. In the end, Desmond’s  final appearance on the island has no meaningful affect in the resolution of the alleged conflicts.


There is something similar to the zebra fish experiment into neural activity. As we come closer to the conclusion of the series, the characters mental functions appear to slow down. The logic becomes flawed, and their emotions turn into various forms of depression. Just as Sayid's reincarnation has zapped him of all emotion, fear and pain, that growing void is apparent in all the characters. It is like the island is absorbing the last mental processes of the characters experience, emotion and wills.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

The Desmond Test between electromagnets that killed a normal workman had no effect on Desmond. In reality, the electromagnets would create a magnetic field of oscillating waves and not necessarily an electric arc burner.

Last lines in episodes:

EP 113:

SEAMUS: Let's go Mr. Hume.
[They begin carrying him away.]

EP 114:

DESMOND: I just need to show them something...

EP 115:

BEN: Call 911, do it now! Mr. Locke? Oh, my God. Don't, don't move. We're gonna get you to the hospital. Mr. Locke? Mr. Locke? Can you hear me?

EP 116:

LOCKE: Jack. You all right? [whistling overhead and loud explosion nearby] Don't worry. It's gonna be okay. You're with me now.

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

By Season 2, I thought knowledge was the key to the island. On the island, knowledge is power. Ben knew the secrets, so he had the power (except it could have been perceived knowledge and faux power in retrospect).

At the time, I thought only two characters gained the knowledge of their plight after the plane crash: Locke and Rose. Locke by regaining his incurable legs, and Rose being cured of her cancer could only mean one logical thing: they realized that they were dead. They had passed on to a new plane of existence. The other passengers have not gotten through that mental hurdle. Time and time again they have been told that they are dead (Naomi, Cooper and recently Richard), but they just don't believe it. Once they accept the truth of their situation, that knowledge will empower them in the after life.

Point One: Smokey Theory

We have been so deep in "Man of Faith" territory since the introduction of Jacob and the MIB, that the introduction of the EM map may prove to be the most important point of  this section of the story line: the balancing point between faith and science.

Smokey may be the conscious manifestation of the EM energy on the island.

Essentially, the Swan was a version of Jacob's cork analogy- as the Swan was designed to cap the energy that Dharma had released, thereby saving the world from destruction, the entire island can be viewed as one giant hatch, keeping Smokey contained and saving the world from destruction.
Smokey cannot hurdle the Dharma sonic fence or "fly" to Hydra Island because if he loses contact with the ground and this energy source, he becomes powerless.

He could not pass through the underwater caverns to get to the barracks (until Ben pulled the plug) or escape from the island via water for the same reasons.

Apparently, the sonic fences disrupt the energy Smokey pulls from the island, again making him helpless.

While in his Flocke body he can overcome some of these obstacles, but as Locke he has the same physical limitations that the human Locke did- hence his clumsy jungle chases after Sun and the ghostly blond boy.

We saw that children could be safely born before the Incident (Ethan), so it is possible that the partial release of this energy in the Incident was the x-factor that stopped all future births on the island (the event has to be fairly recent as Richard called it a "novelty").

The implosion of the Swan may have resulted in Smokey becoming more powerful, allowing him to move from a phantom like appearance (such as Yemi and Christian) to being able to constitue himself in a full corporeal body, such as the Christian who could carry Aaron or the current Flocke. It told Jack that he “needed” a dead body to re-create it.

If Smokey escapes the island, it would have the same effect as if the button had not been pushed- the release of the island's massive electromagnetic energy would essentially "end time,” killing everyone on Earth in the process.

Desmond has been exposed to this energy twice and has survived- he has developed an immunity to its effects, and has been brought to the island by Widmore to somehow control the energy on the island, containing Smokey in the process.

As for the Egyptian symbolism and the other religious motifs, to quote Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".

Visitors to the island unable to explain the magical properties of the island would surely frame it in a religious context as a way of trying to achieve understanding, including the belief that it was the home of some of their Gods- leading to the construction of the Temple, the statue of Tawaret, etc.
If at least some of this is true, a key question would be what was Jacob? Did he gain his abilities from the same exact energy source like the smoke monster?

Point Two: The Electromagnetic Energy Beasts

A large question is why does the sonic fence keeps Smokey out?  Is the clue to What Smokey is?
All waves, whether EM, magnetic or sound, can collide, disperse, refract or interfere with each other in the same medium (air). I suppose the show theory is that the sonic fence produces sound waves which interferes or disperses Smokey's electromagnetic wave form, but that would be wrong. First, EM stands for electromagnetism, so you don't have to mention "magnetic" separately after that. Second, sound are pressure waves in air, meaning that literally the air is a little compressed in places when sound waves travel through it. EM waves don't have a medium like that (once upon a time people thought it had, they called it ether, but experiments have shown that that doesn't exist). That's the reason why light does travel through space (where there's no air) and sound doesn't. If you apply a very strong electric field to a batch of air, one could theorize that  you can ionize the air and somehow change the speed of sound in the ionized air.  However,  using sound waves to change the magnetic properties of EM energy does not make sense, unless the smoke monster is made up of unique piezoelectric materials.

Comic book science answers the question about Desmond's being EM-microwaved: Widmore was not "testing" him but actually "creating" a new Smoke Monster (DeSmokey) to take on the old one, Flocke. One must assume that Desmond could be stronger since he is turning from human to monster, while MIB has been altered from monster to human form.  In essence, Widmore is telling Desmond that he was the sacrifice the island demanded, that he can never leave the island, and that he could never see Penny or his son again, because in order to save them he has to become the thing that would destroy them. Enraged, Desmond would have turned into a dark smoke monster and turns back into the jungle, ripping up trees along his path,
just like the old Smokey in Season 1. He has become the new island Cerberus.

Point 3: The Faulty Reasons

Flocke insists that in order to “leave the island” everyone who previously left had to now leave together. That, he insists, is how they found the island upon their return. However, that makes no logical sense. Not all of the 815 survivors “returned” to the island with Locke. Walt and Michael were not on Ajira. Further, Michael got back to the island without Walt. So the “requirement” that “everyone” as a group do something is false. Frank flew the plane off Hydra Island with Kate, Claire, Richard, Sawyer, and Miles on board.  As the plane was taxiing down the collapsing Hydra Island runway, it managed to slow down so that Ford, Austen, and Claire could be pulled aboard. The Ajira plane safely took off just as the runway began to crack. That meant characters were able to leave without all the candidates as Hurley and Jack remained on the island.

Eloise Hawking could have been an agent of MIB since she's the one who insisted the Oceanic Six take Locke's body back, coffin and all, to the island. Smokey told Jack that he needed a dead body in order to become Flocke, and to get the others to follow him. And MIB use of Locke's appearance was important for his own end game against Jacob.

Hawking’s message could be a diversion.  Flocke said that just as all the O6 had to be together to "return" to the island, they all had to be together to "leave" the island.  (This is false because not all of them will eventually leave the island on the Ajira plane). That is the logic in Flocke's mind on how to escape. It all depends on what the term “leave” means in Flocke’s game: it could be physical or spiritual, leaving alive or dead.

At this point of the series, I came to a speculative conclusion that one of the universes does not exist; it is an illusion, a Room 23 construct, part of a long con. That was probably the sideways world. (In the End, it turned to be more true than not as a purgatory waiting room for lost souls).

One theory at this point was that the sideways world was a way to attempt to overwrite the real world to test candidates, to see if they could be fully mind controlled by Widmore. In the sideways world, Desmond's only purpose was to serve Widmore. He had no family life. He was all work. Complete loyalty. No questions asked. After the EM blast, those are the strong memories that are guiding Desmond, who now suddenly is following Widmore's orders.

The correct term then for flashes between universes is "bleeding through" (in homage to the recent rash of head gashes). If both universes were truly real and were to merge, instead of nose bleeds, characters' heads would explode. One cannot have two different consciousnesses, two different lives, suddenly converge into one being. It seems that the island and sideways worlds are the consciousness life experience separated from the subconscious dream world. Each world is incomplete, and the characters don’t understand that relationship until they are dead.

Some still believe that the flashbacks were their original, messed up lives,the plane crash their symbolic deaths (but not actual death), and the events on the island (sometimes tragic and cruel) their penance, leading to sacrifice, redemption and spiritual rebirth (or better yet, awakening, hence the repetitive opening of the eyes in so many episodes) in the sideways world. However, it is just as probable that in the sequence of untold events that each character has lived “several” lives, as the sideways characters try to remember people “in another life.”  In essence, the characters have been dead long ago, possibly as young children, but the island (life force) has given them additional “lives” to live, in order to experience life - - - and in the end, to find their “soul mates” in order to move on without the help of the island simulation.

Point Four: A Crazy Child’s Game

With a young, smiling ghost boy Jacob taunting Flocke in the jungle as Flocke tries to gather up all the remaining characters, one has to wonder if the whole island dynamic is purely a game between two simple but supernatural children. It has all the elements of childhood play: a game of tag (Jacob’s “touch” and MIB’s apparent “infection” of souls), follow the leader (Jacob’s Templetons, Dharma and the Others and Flocke recruiting a band of his followers), combat (Jacob “killed” MIB, and then MIB got Ben to “kill” Jacob) and finally, capture the flag (the prize at the end of the game.)

Is it telling that dead Jacob appears in at least two forms: as ghost Jacob to Hurley, but as young boy Jacob to MIB?  And is it more telling that Sawyer can see young boy Jacob in jungle when he is with Flocke? How can Sawyer see a ghost - - - unless it is not a ghost but another smokey creature manifestation.

Two smoke creatures who spend eternity “acquiring” human souls to play their childlike games in their island world. Is Jacob and MIB's "life" pegged to the "progress" their pawns have in order to escape the island prison and their captors manipulations? The "progress" had to be MIB finding a loophole to "kill" Jacob (getting a follower, Ben, to freely plunge a knife into his master). And the "progress" was also in Jacob finding one of his stealth candidates (Kate) being able to "kill" MIB in the end. This double murder at the hands of their own followers was the key to allow both Jacob and MIB to "leave" together into the after life.