daniel’s equation + hulu screen shots + awesome paint skills = you should read this!
first let me just say my knowledge of physics doesnt go much deeper than V=(Δd)/(Δt) yay high school physics! so really i have no idea what i’m talking about here as far as the actual science of things. but i do know how to read graphs pretty well, so as my graph reading skills tell me, based on the following screenshots i took from the scene where daniel faraday/widmore is showing his notebook to desmond.
if we take the island as the object traveling through space and time at light speed, and the vertical access as the real universe, as in the first timeline we saw, and the horizontal access as the alternate timeline created through the bomb blast, which exists in “imaginary time” (as it became apparent in the last episode the flash sideways isnt “real”). although the vertical access is labeled “real space” it also says “imaginary time” under, so i am going to assume that although the alternate exists in the real space, as in the same space as the original timeline it is existing in an imaginary time, not real time (i know i probably lost you there, it’s just as confusing for me, and i know it doesnt really make too much sense but nothing in this show makes any sense!)
so my conclusion based on the graph (and this is something i have said in my previous theories and comments even before the graph), your actions in the two timelines determine your existence on the island. like you know how ben’s choice to do good in the alternate put him on the “good” people team on the island. and the interaction of the two timelines, the bleeding through that we’ve been seeing, creates all these infinite possibilities of lives based on their choices in the two timelines, as depicted by all the lines in the graph within the triangle of where the line w/ the island on it and the two timelines.
aslo, do you see those little lines with the two dots at the ends, could those represent the island as it has moved through space and time, like time travel, as in when it went back to the 70s and such.
again, i know nothing of quantum physics (besides that i dont believe that it’s real physics, it’s seems kinda too imaginary to me to be a hard science). I would really appreciate to hear your thoughts on how you interpret the following graph. and also if you think i’m talking out of my butt.
Wow, this is great. I’m going to be staring at these graphs for a long time….
I looked up space-time interval – here’s an interesting link:
http://www.unitytheory.info/space-time_interval.html
Wouldn’t you know, the space-time interval theorist’s name: Minkowski (Minkowski’s space-time Interval). aka George Minkowski, conviently appeared in this past episode as the trusty limo driver…
Check the link when you have a chance. Some text from the link:
“Surprisingly, Minkowski’s interval (distance in space-time) may be real, zero, or even imaginary between any two different events in space-time. Simply, the surface of light cone (the hyper-cone that is formed after a flash of light is emitted) represents the null interval in space-time, although the light cone is not a single point in space-time.
Additionally, the value of Minkowski’s interval between two events in space-time depends on the orientation of the coordinate system, and it implies a direction in space-time (before after).”
OK. Over my head, but I’m still going to bang my head against the wall on this one for a while…
again with the names! the authors really did a great job naming everyone! most of that stuff from that link went right over my head too lol but basically the graph is our little pimp-daddy-cab-driver’s theory. thanks to lost i now know so many philosophers’ and scientists’ names lol
Really nice job obsessedWlost.
You made me spend some time looking at these graphs. 🙂
I totally agree with you when you say that actions in the two timelines determine their existence on the island. Perhaps it’s the reason why Desmond wants to see the manifest from the #815 flight. Maybe he figure it out and wants to explain to all passengers in order to fix thing.
Well played Clairespeanutbutter. It’s really funny how the names of some characters do not have arisen randomly. Remember that George Minkowski (now the limo driver) was one of the freighter crew of Charles Widmore? He was tied up in a room and was suffering the same time travel sickness that Desmond was experiencing (episode “The Constant”). Maybe he was a scientist working for Widmore.
I had a theory WAY back when Faraday first came to the Island in season 4 called: Relativity and Einstein-Minkowski Spacetime. And it touches on some of the things you were talking about here. Check it out and good thoughts:
http://www.theoriesonlost.com/2009/03/relativity-and-einstein-minkowski-spacetime/
Also, quantum mechanics is entirely real, and is 1/2 of our known physics. Its hard to comprehend because it does not hold true on the macro level (same as macro level physics not working on the quantum level). It is one of the largest mysteries in physics. I think i remember seeing graphs between space and time where the negative parts of both axises (or axes?) are the imaginary areas. Ill try to find it
really great post, i love the effort of the screen shot. thanks
Great theory- I knew that the drawing must have been carefully designed to somehow represent the SLU, and you will notice that at the bottom right, all of the lines converge- as I am sure the timelines will somehow. And here is a micro-theory; the writers were sitting around saying, “Yeah, we’ve got flash backs and flash forwards (especially Desmond), what other kinds of flashes can we do on the show?”
“Hey, how about a flash-sideways!”
“Uh, what’s that?”
“I don’t know, but it might be cool, and no one has done that yet.”
Some may argue that the SLU is in 2004, and the Island time is 2007 and therefore not a flash sideways, but it does seem like there are real-time connections between the two possible dimensions, like we all are discussing.
I think that Desmond will try to find some of the other passengers and try to “show” them what Charlie showed him. The question is why? Especially since he has now found his Penny…
Oh obsessed, you have outdone yourself! I love a theory that has visual aids to supplement the explanation.
Since we saw this timeline split of sorts, I’ve always been a fan/in the camp that these timelines will start to bleed into each other or eventually meet (and I know from previous posts along with this one, you are as well).
Marvelous analysis, I much prefer your theory to the idea floating about that this alternate timeline is going to be what the Losties’ lives will be after everything… with this episode, I think we can start to lay that idea to rest! 🙂
though I’m a bit sad you dismiss quantum physics so quickly. I think you’ll find that it factors into what you believe about the show quite well (and possibly life, but that’s stretching it).
What a fantastic episode, I felt it was a precursor to an episode that will be just like “The Constant”, had all the elements (I almost feel the finale will be similar to “The Constant”).