Surfing The Possibility Waves
One of the storylines that has been captivating us on Lost is that of Desmond. It is through Desmond that we were eased into accepting that time travel was integral to Lost and has led many of us to put our minds into overdrive to figure out what is going on. But just how was he able to see into the future and perceive the different deaths of Charlie? I’ve been recently reading a book called “Beyond the Bleep” which is a companion piece to the film “What the Bleep Do We Know” and contains an article about one of the scientists who contributed to the film, Fred Alan Wolf, who based his theory on a concept proposed by John G. Cramer.
One explanation of how Desmond foresaw Charlie’s death may be an adaptation of the ‘Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics’ (TIQM). John G. Cramer first proposed this interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. This is how it basically works. A real event (E1 for event 1) sends out what Cramer calls an “offer wave,” but it sends a wave both to the past and to the future. Now an event in the future (I’ll call that PE for possible event) also sends out offer waves to the past and the future. The two waves meet up and if they are in phase, cancel each other out which in turn causes the PE to become a real event (E2) with E1 as its cause.
Now the scientist Fred Alan Wolf took this concept a step further. He has proposed that there is an infinite possibility of events in the future. Each of these events is sending offer waves into the past. If any one of these waves is in phase with the event sending waves to the future that is the possibility that becomes real while all the others remain in the realm of possibility.
Now Mr. Wolf also believes that our brains are constantly looking into the future and scanning all the possibilities. Our brains then return to the present with the information it has gathered and selects the action to take to make the possibility it wants to become real happen. But we are unaware that this is going on. But what if we were made aware?
This is what I think happened to Desmond. The release of energy and Desmond’s proximity to it after he turned the failsafe key caused his consciousness to become aware of his brain scanning the future. When he was near to the point where Charlie’s death was immanent he became aware of the wave coming back from the future consciously but because he was actually before the event happened he was able to modify the event so that a different set of waves were sent into the future. When this happened it set up a course of events that would lead to a different possible death for Charlie.
That gives us a lot to think about man, have to look into this.
It was something I found that seems to fit in with what was going on with Desmond.
That’s interesting, I’ve thought that important events send out vibrations through time for a long time now. I lived in Savannah GA for about 7 years and before that I never believed in haunted houses. Now I do. But I don’t think it’s ghosts… I think it’s traumatic emotions (call it psychic energy if you want) that are still resonating in those buildings. It’s wild to hear that there are actually possible quantum explanations for that kind of thing!
Charlie was an important part of the group on an emotional level for many people. It makes sense that his death would send shockwaves out through time that Desmond could perceive. And on that note… maybe Desmond’s time travel episodes and reliving his entire life has opened a door of perception for him into this kind of energy. Sort of like taking acid makes it easier to perceive certain patterns in nature, only more intense because he REALLY experienced those things.
Pdjkrunkt, I really like your take on this. It never occurred to me to apply this to ghosts and the way you explain Charlie’s death having effects on things is good.
I thought this would get more comments as it is a pretty cool theory.
I recently reread a book by Neal Stephensom called Anathem. In it one of the characters is able to choose what reality everyone is going into, the mechanics aren’t really explained or perhaps I didn’t understand it. But alot of it was based on Roger Penrose’s theories and Julian Barbours thoughts on the subject, with a little Godel thrown in also.
The many worlds theory is explored and the mind as a quantum computer. Much of it is very similar to what you posted.
I see Jacob as being able to choose which threads everyone goes down as we see him weaving in the one scene. Perhaps Desmond gained some of this power when they didn’t push the button and allowed the Swan to almost blow completely before he turned the failsafe.
Roland, I’m glad you liked this. I’ve seen the book you’ve mentioned but have never read it. Now it looks like I’ll have to add it to my list. It sounds interesting from the way you describe it.