Very interesting.... My proposal is that the island's unique electromagnetic properties produce space-time rifts enabling spatial and/or temporal exchanges or switchings among alternate versions of persons, inhabiting alternate universes.... This idea opens up several possibilities for modes of becoming 'unstuck' and 'restuck' in space-time, and help explain some of the 'magical' occurrences we've seen on Lost, all of which are catalyzed by and channeled through the island's properties:
1. Simple exchange or switching among alternate universes, (e.g., the mind of paralyzed Locke is switched into the body of alternate-universe walking Locke.)
2. SPATIAL bilocation, a 'doppelganger' effect involving bilocation across space, in time (no temporal bilocation). This means you, as you are in the present, are observed in two different locations, at the same point in time (e.g., WALT appearing to Sayid and Shannon, in the rain, while being held hostage by the Others.) This effect does NOT require an alternate universe, but instead can simply involve a person from one universe being able to appear in two locations, at the same time (Walt).
3. TEMPORAL bilocation, a 'doppelganger' effect involving bilocation across time, in space (no significant spatial bilocation= spatial copresence). This means you, as you are in the present, are observed with a second version of yourself, younger or older, at the same location/space (e.g., LOCKE copresent with older/future Locke/Jacob, in the cabin with Ben.) This effect does NOT require an alternate universe, but instead can simply involve a person from one universe being able to appear in the same location, in two different temporal forms (one from the present, and the other from the past or the future). This is one possible explanation for the claim that Jacob is a future Locke, involving temporal rifting but not necessarily requiring alternate universe-shifting.... (Is the temporal rifting sufficient to produce the 'cabin Carrie' kaboom?! Or is a Locke/anti-Locke combination needed to generate that effect? See 5.b., below....)
4. SPATIOTEMPORAL bilocation, a 'doppelganger' effect involving bilocation across time AND across space. This means you, as you are in the present, are observed in the past or the future, in different locations within the same universe (e.g., RICHARD ALPERT's meeting Ben as a youth, appearing to be the same age as he is in 2004.) Does the island's energy function as a vital source of age-slowing power? Or does the island's energy enable Richard (and others?) to leverage space-time rifting to appear forward and backward in time, on the island....? (Since the show's producers/writers have discounted the time travel hypothesis, this form of bilocation may not be in the cards, as it were. Hmmmm.... perhaps this form of bilocation is not so far-fetched, after all, especially when we recall what DESMOND is able to do....)
5. ALTERNATE UNIVERSE forms of bilocation. Of course, bilocations are inherent in the view, if we accept a view of alternate universes.... What we are considering here is the possibility that the Spatial and Temporal bilocations identified above might involve not simply a duplicate (doppelganger) of a person from one universe, observed in two places at once in the same universe (spatial bilocation), or a younger or older version of a person from one universe, observed at the same time in the same universe (temporal bilocation.) No, what we are proposing here is that the island's energy may enable more complex forms of bilocation involving persons from alternate universes. For example:
5.a. ALT-SPATIAL bilocation is a special form of 'doppelganger' effect involving two different forms of you-- you as you are here, and you from the alternate universe ('present you' and 'present alt-you')-- appearing at the same time, in different locations... For example, a walking alt-Locke and a paralyzed Locke could exist at the same time, in different locations, in the same universe. (But, what if they met and came into close proximity? Kaboom?!)
5.b. ALT-TEMPORAL bilocation is a special form of 'doppelganger' effect involving two different forms of you-- you as you are here in the present and the present universe, and you as you are younger or older, from an alternate universe ('present you' and 'younger or older alt-you')-- appearing in the same location or universe.... This is a second explanation for the claim that Jacob is a future Locke, involving temporal rifting AND an alternate universe Locke.... (matter, anti.... Kaboom?!)
5.c. ALT-SPATIOTEMPORAL bilocation is a special form of 'doppelganger' effect involving two different forms of you-- you as you are here, in the present and the present universe, and your mirror twin alt-universe version-- appearing in different times and locations, across different universes ('regular' and alternate universes.) Are there alternate versions of Richard Alpert, good and evil 'mirror twins,' appearing forward and backward in time, to those who are on the island? Does the Lost island exist in both (or all) of the alternate universes?
Or does the island itself exist only as a spatiotemporal epiphenomenon, arising from a unique electromagnetic anomaly, i.e., the island appears to be a physical, spatiotemporally anchored or 'stuck' reality.... But what if it really exists as a space-time rift in and across alternate universes....? Hmmm... I'll take those noodles al dente....
Copyright 5/17/07 & 5/18/07