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The Scientific Explanation

Since the beginning of the show the writers have stated that most of the mysteries will have a scientific explanation (I don’t have a direct quote though) but as the show progresses, especially season 5s crazy finale, this statement to me seems almost impossible to hold up.
I have been thinking though, there could still be a way to have spiritual/paranormal/fantasy elements and still have an overall scientific explanation for the madness.
What has got me so into the show, is how outlandish some of it is, yet is still somewhat believable and could be applicable in the real world (maybe i’m nuts), rather than being science fiction, the writers seem to pay alot of attention to actual scientific theories.

First, i just want to say, i don’t fully believe this, and i’m sure its an idea thats probably been brought up before but i don’t think it has been ‘debunked’ by the producers as far as i know. Early on in the second series, we were slowly introduced to a mysterious and somewhat shady multi purpose social science research organization who once inhabited the island called ‘the Dharma initiative’.
Their experiments were funded by ‘the Hanso foundation’, which was formed by Alvar Hanso, a former arms purveyor who turned his attention from “keeping the world safe through the development of sophisticated weapons systems” to focus instead on the development of new technologies to “create a brighter future for all humanity”.
The Dharma initiative were a collection of visionary free thinkers who pursued research meteorology, psychology, parasychology, zoology and electromagnetism, who chose the island for its unique properties.

I believe Desmond has been set up as a key character in the next season, as has been stated in the show the rules do not apply to him. The Dharma intiative placed him in the hatch supposedly to input a chain of numbers every 108 minutes for some important reason that was never revealed. I think that the plan all along was for Desmond not to press the button on the day that 815 crashed, and later be bestowed with the mind flashing abilities he now has, but whos plan?

One of the big factors of the show as we approach the bitter end, has been time travel. I have often heard when time travel is discussed (not on the show) that if time travel were possible we’d already know, because it would have already happened. Confusing i know, but it makes sense that if time travel does become possible in the future, then we would have already experienced someone time travelling to the past or present etc.
The writers have been very careful to avoid paradoxes (although i think there are some occuring, which i think will be important in season 6).

I’ll cut to the chase now, i believe theres a possibility that above all the supernatural goings on the island, time travelling, Jacob MIB, the smoke monster, dead people appearing etc.
A reformed Dharma initiative (or Hanso foundation) of the future have finally figured out a way to combine various elements from the fringe sciences they have studied and everything they know about this special island and its inhabitants to achieve their plan to better humanity or possibly even save it from destruction. They know about the others, they know about Jacob and MIBs game and 815s crash and orchestrated this huge social experiment in the past (or our present) without directly influencing it themselves.
I believe this could also explain the ‘whatever happened, happened’ rule, and how certain people know what is going to happen, and what is supposed to or not supposed to happen without there being a ‘timeloop’. This could be a decent way to explain everything in the show with an overtone of scientific theory, and still include all sorts of paranormal and supernatural elements, and is still simple enough for the casual viewer to understand.

I don’t really have any evidence to back this up, its just a hunch i have sometimes when watching the show, and the fact that the Dharma initiative/Hanso Foundation seemed like such a big, expensive and important group, i don’t think ‘the purge’ would prevent them from rebuilding and continuing their crucial and possibly world changing activities.

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shephards_flocke

I'm a hiphop producer from London, and obviously a huge fan of Lost. Its a bit of a love/hate thing as its made me cynical of all other TV shows (Heroes being one of the most overrated poorly written shows i've seen). Never been into much big american TV drama or Sci-fi, more into british comedy, but Lost has been amazing, and i really hope it continues that awesomeness in its final season. I'm usually pretty good at predicting the end of a story which can annoy people around me, but this show is so intricately constructed, even in its 2nd to last season, i still don't have a clue. I'm trying my best though.

16 thoughts on “The Scientific Explanation

  1. I think I like this. And somehow it opens up the possibility that Jacob and MIB are just pawns in the workings of DI – who would have thought.

  2. To add to what i’ve said here, the Dharma initiative of the future might have fiddled with time and influenced things even further back the what we are currently seeing.
    This could explain the smoke monster in some way, even though its been on the island for an extremely long time, and has even been depicted in Egyptian heiroglyphs, it was actually created in the future…

  3. It seems that future DI is not too concerned with butterfly effects? Or perhaps they assume that the Island is isolated enough not to disturb the rest of the world? But that’s not really true, is it?

  4. This is the right direction.

    We definetly have a very similar perspective of the show.

    Very good thoughts here and I could not agree more about Desmonds importance.

    If you read nearly any on of my theories about change, I mention in at least the comments if not the theory that Des is the key to the show in regards to the aspect of Change.

  5. Ilie,

    I think that the Future Dharma/Hanso have figured out how to use these ‘butterfly effects’ and paradoxes for whatever purpose they are trying to achieve.

    I like what you say about the island being isolated, which would make sense, they’ve also chosen this place because they’re already aware of how amazing its capabilities are, and i do think the ‘rule breaking’ Des is also very important (and a ‘variable’ that they created somewhat).

    Too add again, Daniel was a firm believer in the ‘whatever happened, happened’ logic, but when he returned to the island from Ann Arbour where he was ‘doing some research for Dharma’, his mind had completely changed, and was intent on getting Jack to change the past. What happened in Ann Arbour?

    The writers have said they had been very careful to avoid paradoxes…until now that is. I think paradoxes are possible now the rules have changed, and all of our characters are the ‘variables’ in this experiment.

    anyway, to answer your question ILIE, not only are Dharma concerned with butterfly effects, they’re part of the plan. Who knows what a future Dharma could have discovered in their research and what kind of technological breakthroughs they’ve made.

    Now i just wonder how far course correction goes to correct these anomalies, or if Mrs Hawking was wrong…

    On a side note, how mind blowing would it be if we get to see a future Daniel working for Dharma!

  6. Excellent thinking, and well said. I’ve also thought since the 5th season ended, that this island originated in the future, or at least has been there. How could it not? We see technologies that have yet to be invented: An island that frickin time travels by the turn of a wheel, and a technology that uses smoke as a medium, travels, reads minds, and kills.

    It’s good to take a step back and look at what it REALLY happening here on LOST. This isn’t some fantasy fairy tale. There are reasons for these anomalies. The island’s got to be from the future, and Hanso has a lot to do with it. Again, excellent post

  7. shephards_flocke, I also like the thoughts that you have expressed in your theory. In particular, the reason why Desmond was placed in the Swan Station.

    As AES states, I think Desmond will play a key role in the upcoming season.

    I think what you have to say about Dharma & Hanso’s involvement, playing a large part in the overall story is likely.

    I agree with Chiefof16 and his take regarding Hanso, ‘the island’ and the futuristic aspects.

    The episode of “The LIttle Prince” and the book reference of ‘besixdouze’ may hold more importance than we first realized.

    Nice theory!

  8. Dabiatch,

    Thanks for the comments. Just checked ‘Besixdouze’ on wikipedia as i didn’t know what it was, and its the name of an asteroid thats a reference to the book ‘the little prince’, thats cool.

    Only the writers of Lost could throw in a reference to a reference.

    Chiefof16,

    i really like your logic, and its got me thinking about something i pondered before, Jacob and MIBs scene and the fish that Jacob eats that some have said is literally a ‘red herring’.

    Maybe all the seemingly supernatural/spiritual stuff that was thrown at us at the end of last season was to throw us off the scent of what is REALLY going down…

  9. Hi AES, I recall this information being brought up when the episode initially aired, so you may have missed it. Recently, (can’t recall the exact post) I brought it up again. I refreshed my memory on Wikipedia and Lostpedia.

    Besixdouze is also known in the book as B6-12 a tiny asteroid moon that the Prince lived on. You may recall the canister was found in the episode amongst Rousseau and teams wreckage and the Ajira bottle.

    Hi, shepherds_flocke, I still believe that certain supernatural elements may still at play.

  10. Well, it’s hard for me to believe that the writers, especially of such a dark and serious show, would show us all in the end that Smokie is an alien or a demon. Or, that Jacob or Richard has been touched by God or drank out of a magical fountain of youth. I mostly like your theory because you bring the almighty, yet VERY forgotten Hanso into the mix. Really awesome, and very possible.

  11. Dabi,

    i also believe that supernatural elements will still be at play. i think that Dharma have done research into all sorts of supernatural and spiritual phenomena, as well as time travel, life extension etc. and have probably made some incredible breakthroughs.

    What i meant by the ‘red herring’ thing is that we have been theorising alot about Jacob and MIBS roles, gods, mythology, and the upcoming war, but maybe theres something else scientific going on above all of that that will become clear next season.

  12. As has been mentioned many times, Jacob and MIB in the 19th century feel more 20th or 21st century. I guess the main question is how far into the future do they come from…?

  13. I am inclined to believe that Jacob and MIB are from the future.

    Maybe Jacob “hates technology” because he comes from a/the future when technology has had a hand in the destruction of humanity.

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