Man of Science: Evil Incarnate
Is it just me or does it now, in retrospect, seem like Lost was one big bash session on The Man of Science? Let’s start at the beginning….like, the real beginning….Adam and Eve. We all know the story. Eve gets tempted by the Serpent and eats the fruit from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. She then recruits her man, Adam, to have a bite as well and the rest is, well, biblical history. The 2 get banished from the garden and get introduced to pain and suffering. Their pursuit of knowledge was their downfall. (BTW…is it any coincidence that the smoke monster looks and moves much like a serpent would? I doubt it. And also how about all of the deals MIB makes? Sort of like ‘deals with the devil” no?) But I digress….
Let’s see how this story parallels the story of Lost, shall we? OK! So we have a mysterious island with a mysterious light at the “heart” of it. We are told through others in-the-know that the light is “life, death, rebirth”….let’s call the Light the island’s Tree of Knowlegde for the sake of argument. Going into the Light would result in a fate “worse than death” according to Mother. What’s worse than death, you ask? Maybe an eternity of suffering, much like the fate of man once Adam and Eve dropped the proverbial ball by eating from our sacred Tree. Maybe an existence condemned to never “moving on”, to quote one Christian Shepherd.
Whatever the punishment for gaining that knowledge, it remains clear that Lost looks poorly on those Men of Science who are on constant pursuit of whatever it is they need to satisfy their morbid curiosities. Our 1st known Man of Science, Adam, AKA Man in Black, didn’t appear to be much of an evil soul. He seemed…curious…unsatisfied…but not evil. He wanted to leave the island and decided to leave his Mother and brother in a quest for answers and joined another group of people on the island; smart people who were looking for answers and trying to use the island’s properties for the advancement of man. The MIB himself referred to these people, his people, as greedy, untrustworthy, manipulative & selfish. Strange terms to use to describe the very people you would align yourself with, don’t you think?Â
Flash to a different time on the island….the 1970’s and the arrival of the Dhama Initiative. Surprise, surprise, another group of scientists looking to tap into the island’s incredible properties. Again, much of what we learned about the Dharma people doesn’t lead us to believe they were all evil, especially early on (1974). But by 1977, with progress improving and new findings coming almost daily, we can see a great, if not disastrous change in the demeanors or a few of the head Dharma crew…..most notably someone like Radzinski who seemed almost possessed by the time Dharma was close to hitting the pocket of energy at the Swan station. The idea of power (“I came here to change the world, Dr Chang, and that’s exactly what I intend to do!”) can do strange things to a man….it can turn a good, decent man into someone he never thought he could be; it can turn a man into someone who could willingly or unwillingly become man’s own worst enemy.
Was it coincidence that on this very island where the pursuit of knowledge was, if nothing else, greatly discouraged, we encountered some of man’s most self-destructive weapons? I doubt it.  A hydrogen bomb; enough C4 to blow a small island to hell; a submarine; a freighter; automatic weapons etc etc. I guess the lesson here is that we’re painfully destined to some day eradicate ourselves from this planet with Nuclear weapons or suicide bombings or whatever. We are and have been our own worst enemy since the day we started questioning…started learning….started experimenting…even with the best of intentions. It always ends the same. Everything is a means to an end.
Well, in The End, our ultimate Man of Science finally turns into the Man of Faith and that eventually leads to his eternal happiness and moving on. Jack eventually stopped asking questions and started to just believe. He started to believe in what Bernard told Juliet, Kate & Sawyer…that all that mattered was the time they spent together. That was, in the end, the story of Lost….the time they all spent together. Maybe that was the lesson for us all….to stop asking so many damn questions and just enjoy the people. I can’t say that I have actuallt Let Go myself just yet. I am still like Jack in the FSW….still not ready. I still have some questions. Ok, A LOT of questions I want answers too. And I still don’t feel fully satisfied with the many holes I see in the story from start to finish. But I still have faith that I reconcile with Lost and move on….just not for a little while longer.
Well said. You make some strong arguments regarding how this show is geared towards faith. I personally like that part of the show. I was always on Locke’s side of the coin rather than arrogant Jack’s (seasons 1&2).
I too believe this island represents more than just “it’s own place in history”. Meaning, I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually comes down to this being the Garden of Eden at some point. I never realized that Smokie traversed like a serpent until you just brought it up. Excellent catch, it’s rather chilling.
I was quite pissed about the remaining questions too until I realized people were still going to try to figure the show out. Knowing that many are still thinking and theorizing about this show keeps my spirits up.
Anyway, I like the Garden of Eden idea. It’s the first I’ve thought of it since the show ended. I wish I could remember The Bible’s Genesis and Exodus a little better to maybe help find some similarities….
Yes, very nicely put together. As a man of science, I personally think that Jack had a downfall during the last seasons. He went from sensible to crazy.
One of the best posts I’ve read yet since the Finale.
I took a lot away from the last episode. While we all would love to have all the answers, isn’t the show (art) mirroring life in that we never get all the answers. There are so many things that seem coincidental or like they have happened for a reason, or that person we pass in the hall that we’re sure we know. In life, we seldom get the answers to the minor occurrences or to the major events that seem to happen for a reason, or against reason. We have to just accept the situation, adapt to it and move on.
Very nicely put together!
Great post. Very nicely put, and a compelling argument regarding the theme of faith versus science. After reading this I’m inclined to agree with your take on it, especially after reading the examples you’ve given.
Smokey as the snake – I agree completely. There’s also an enormous tree in Lost, which made me think of the Tree of Life/Knowledge. It is the tree that Richard buries his necklace beside, and also the tree Richard and his wife speak at (via Hurley). This is interesting, since Richard (at the time) had ‘eternal’ life, which is what the Tree of Life/Knowledge represents.
In Milton’s Paradise Lost, Milton refers to the Garden of Eden as an island – an enormous flood occurred that surrounded the Garden and hid it from humanity… (I think I put this and reference to smokey as a snake in one of my previous theories: “Religion in Lost: Jacob, Nemi, Aaron, Spirits and the Garden of Eden”).
Anyhow, didn’t mean to digress, but I’m excited that others are leaning towards the island being the Garden of Eden.
Back to the post: great stuff. I agree that one of the messages of Lost was the potential destruction of mankind via science “without limits”, and this post captured that well.
Great post…I like a lot of the ideas, and slightly disagree with the idea of Lost bashing science or “the man of”…
Im getting to the point where I realize that debating the show is coming dangerously close to ending by the look of commenting on the site…so out of respect to you and Lost …Im here to pick a fight…
Start off with the things I agree with…
I REALLY like that you say that a quest of knowledge is what was MIBs downfall…so true…Curiosity killed the cat…and the smoke monster…
This “Knowledge Quest” also parallels John Lockes “spirit quest” or walkabout he was hoping to take part in…careful what you wish for Johnny…
The last theory I wrote pre-season discussed a book Achalli and I talk about quite often, “The Illuminatus Trilogy”…if you thought Lost was disappointing in regards to answers, lol…dont ever read that book…
In the story and the theory I wrote, there is an island (Atlantis) which is basically an island with a trapped monster and a bunch of indigenous people who know nothing but goodness and bliss…so much so, that they had no word for evil…because there was none…
Until a man who, to make a long story short was bored, and unintentionally released the monster in hopes to make himself more powerful and learn things that have no use of being learned on such an island…
In doing so, he sunk the island, and it left only a part of their statue/temple visable on the bottom of the sea, and island inhabitants that are left must leave the island and enter the real world, eventually forming secret societies…sound familiar?
I think that that is the part that Lost really hits…your statement…
“Whatever the punishment for gaining that knowledge, it remains clear that Lost looks poorly on those Men of Science who are on constant pursuit of whatever it is they need to satisfy their morbid curiosities.”
It does. It should.
Its not about the knowledge though…its about what these people are willing to do to acquire it.
MIB is with bad people yes…its only strange because he is not necessarily trying to be bad. But that doesnt mean he should get to break the rules of mankind just because he is one of the few on an island.
He goes with those people not for the light to use for power, but to leave.
He never knew anything else other than the island. He follows his real mother to her people in an effort to leave the island.
The simple acknowedgement that his people were bad is enough for his conscience to kick in and use common sense to stay away.
Remember when you were a kid and you mom didnt want you playing around the bad kids…yeah, neither do I …but it happens a lot…
By simply being a part of the clique…by simply playing along to get what you want, even if its different than what they want…you are still with them, and MIB was still helping them accomplish something that they shouldnt have been accomplishing.
I dont think Lost looks poorly on mankind that searches for knowledge…it looks down upon mankind who searches for unneccesary and dangerous knowedge for their own self advancement and power increase.
“Mother” told MIB and Jacob about the light, and that it was not to be played with by man, MIB more than once. She told them it was the light of the world, and that it could easily be extinguished by mans acquisition of it.
This alone should have been enough for him to not touch it. He should have been like Jacob, and listened to mom…maybe it wouldnt have had to be the way it was if he did…
I look at the light as being capable of being good or evil.
To be evil, you chase and catch the light, and use it to gain the desired use…as it has many…
But for it to be good…you dont have to do anything…except maybe sacrifice yourself for the sake of the world and protect it…
Ill get to some of the DI stuff in a bit…
Good post boo, I love the direction you went, and I am happy to see the beginning of you letting go…
We all still have questions…maybe Lost will be fully answered in “The Next Generation”…or something like that…
;]
Wow. Well I’m sure most of you guys probably know this is my 1st post here. I’ve been reading this site for a few years and am truly grateful for all of the insight this group has provided me with regards to Lost.
I was waiting until the end of the series to to take some time to post on the show and I was pretty nervous in doing so. I was actually half way through this post when CPB posted a couple of days ago and referenced the Garden of Eden again and that kind of pushed me to finish it.
Let me thank you all for the comments and taking the time to read. I feel very strongly about the Eden part of this. And AES, when I say “bashing” I guess I probably exaggerated for effrect just a little. Ceretainly Lost didn’t want man to never pursue knowledge…what they were willing to do to acquire the knowledge is certainly at the crux of the issue but also WHAT they were going to do with that knowledge once it was obtained. It kind of comes back to the whole “means to an end” thing MIB referred to. I really believe there’s a huge tie-in with Lost and the idea that man is doomed to be his own worst enemy…I have a feeling I will post again on that very theory at some point (assumin anyone is still here).
Anyhow, thank you all for making this site what it is…this is cathartic for me in so many ways. And thank you Chief, Ilie, CPB, & AES. This helps more than you know.
Im glad people are still posting…And this was a great first post from you boo…
This show and site touched me in the same way it touched you…I was just blessed to have it happen a year and a half ago…
I know what it feels like to have that feeling you had reading the comments, and what it feels like to write a sincere thank you to other theorists…I meant every one of mine at the end of my posts.
NO television show (or website)will ever give us this chance again…hold on while its here still…because soon enough we will all have to let go…
I got the purposeful over dramatizing of “bashing”…I agree for the most part.
I really think that what the “bad guys” of Lost were looking for more than just knowledge…they were looking to use that knowledge to put themselves in a position that they desired regardless of the consequences in the end.
You are absolutely right about mans worst enemy…it definitely doesnt take a story like this to show me that.
I love reading about crazy things that people do to further their knowledge…I love reading about Cern/LHC.
Scientists from over 100 different countries from around the world gather for decades and dump BILLIONS of dollars into a project to further their knowledge of science in hopes to find the “god” particle…
When it first got big in media (along with other colliders), people feared the worst…stranglets, black holes, unknown/never seen before phenomena that could destroy the planet out from under us in their pursuit of knowledge.
One scientist there disputed the claims, laying down a figure of the chance being somewhere around 1 in 50 million of disaster…
Yesterday I LOST 6 bucks playing powerball…know what my chances of winning a jackpot was…?
1 in 195,249,054
Meaning that according to a scientist working on LHC…I have a better chance of dying of an LHC meltdown/disaster…than picking you all up in my private jet and going to our own island…
BUT…I cant say that I am not excited to see when they run a full blown 100% collision in effort to find the Higgs Boson…after all…I dont go to the tightrope act to see the man make it to the other side…I find it hard to believe that anyone does…
OH…I found this article that I had saved for a few years…boo…you will definitely appreciate this…
Its obviously biased in the direction of anti-LHC…but still an interesting read.
It contains a few of the figures I gave about LHC, and will give you a nice pillow to sleep on regarding your theory we are discussing right now…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/science/15risk.html
BTW…I feel LHC is a strong symbol of what the Dharma Initiative represents in Lost…
This image will look familiar to anyone who watches Lost, and makes it fairly easy to find a connection between LHC and Lost, specifically the Dharam Intitiatives logo…
http://corykennedy.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/cern_lhc_t2030shigh.jpeg
I want a Large Hadron Collider for Xmas
To quote from John Locke in Season 2 ep9:
“When you say beginning,you mean…beginning.” haha one of favorite lines of all times..
boogah11 great read my friend. You really fit this piece of the puzzle of Lost together very well, not just one piece though, a huge section which I could not myself even see match up. Thinking it through; I realize now, the biblical theme of Garden of Eden, Tree of Knowlege, Forbidden Fruit etc. really matched up well once Lost revealed a key detail; Jacob and MIB were both human. And like we had THE END, the episode of “Across the Sea” could have been appropriately named THE BEGINNING, or even more appropriately IN THE BEGINNING haha..
So in other words, since we know they are not Gods, they weren’t these perfect beings whose eternal mission was to protect the island, as I admittedly once believed..
You could see both of their falling-from-grace moments in the story.. I’m still kind of perplexed why being a man of science is reminscient to being evil, but it must be similar to why we were told not to eat the fruit in the Garden. I mean, to us, it just looks like some harmless tasty fruit!
our view of them as gods and the falling from grace moments are precisely why they couldn’t have shown “Across the Sea” an episode earlier…