(Written text completed on 2/22/08 at 12:44 am, CST.) (Note: This is a graphics-enhanced version. I've left the text-only, printer-cartridge-friendly version posted, too.)
ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET? IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT ....AND AARON WILL LEAD US TO THE 'PROMISED LAND' Building For The Future War: Super-Psychics In Ben's 'Future Force'-  Yes, that was a sweetly delicious O. Henry-esque twist at the end of tonight's latest Lost episode! On further reflection, however, considering the bigger picture developing through the Season Four flash-forwards, is it really surprising to find that the person most adept at staying on the run and evading capture-- Kate-- is now the 'guardian' of the future hope for saving the planet-- Aaron? No, it is not surprising at all, especially when we step back and consider Ben in a larger and kinder light....  Recall Ben's great concern with finding a way for mothers on the island to carry a baby to term and successfully deliver it, with both mother and child staying alive. Why go to all the trouble to enlist the help of Juliet, toward this end? Because Ben knew what would happen if they could find a way to enable mothers and their children to grow and prosper on the island... this would enable him to cultivate and propagate a renewable-resource-race of super-psychics to unleash as part of his 'future force' against the Maxwell Group, to save the planet from destruction resulting from that group's dark agenda. (More on this, below....)  To date we have witness the profound and 'magical' effects of the island's unique energy properties (electromagnetic and beyond) including amplifying preexisting paranormal abilities in Walt and others (psychic powers, telekinesis, manipulation of energy fields, etc.) For example, recall Ben and Juliet's great shock while witnessing Walt's ability to disrupt the biomagnetic receptors of birds. Even Hugo's brain was affected by the island's unique electromagnetic properties, and this effect stayed with him even after he returned to the mainland as part of the Oceanic Six, making him all the more receptive to 'seeing' and experiencing Charlie. In short, what I am proposing here is that prolonged exposure to the island's unique energy affects the brain physiology and functioning of all who are exposed to it, and if one already possesses paranormal abilities before coming to the island, these abilities are even further amplified.
----> For proof that the island's energy affects brain functioning, look no further than the scene in which Charlotte is querying Daniel regarding his memory of DHARMA playing cards. She asked him to recall them after a period of time had elapsed, and oh boy, did he have trouble! So in addition to the island's energy 'scattering light,' Daniel's scientific observation set has been expanded to include effects on brain functioning, in effect, 'scattering' his memory/recall functions. Is this an early phase in the island's effects on brain physiology/functioning, namely, disruption while 'reorienting' the brain, opening it up to higher planes of perception, consciousness, etc.? (We'll come back to this, below!)  Everyone gets a 'dose' of paranormal ability from living on the island. How strong a person's ability is, depends in no small part on: (1) the degree to which the person was genetically predisposed to paranormal abilities (hence the blood tests on Walt by the Others); (2) length of exposure to the island, including proximity to 'hot pockets' of energy; and (3) age of the recipient (the younger you are, the stronger your paranormal powers, perhaps even including a greater range of power types, to boot.) What remains to be seen are the mechanisms through which these effects operate. At a minimum, I would propose that the island's energy properties are affecting brain structures and functions and may even be 'switching on' dormant genes associated with psychic abilities (again, the blood tests on Walt by the Others.)  All of the impressive effects on older persons not born on the island beg the important question: What type of powers would a person born and raised on the island possess? And how strong would this person's abilities be? True to form, the answers to these questions will emerge in bits and puzzle pieces throughout the remainder of the series, until the very end when we find out just how much psychic power Aaron is packing.... Will we discover he is Claire-voyant? Clairaudient? Clairesentient? Yes, yes, and yes.... (Please see my "HEMA Science" and "Psychic Kids" postings in these regards.) Will Aaron be able to flash-backward and flash-forward like Desmond, only with greater control and intent? Yes! Will he be able to leverage the island portal to move between parallel worlds with ease? Yes! All this and more, because his exposure to the island's energy occurred so early in his formative years. And as Hugo still carries the mind-matter-energy effects of island-exposure in his Oceanic Six flash-forward-mainland-future, so too will Aaron retain his vastly greater powers as he ages on the mainland under the care and supervision of Kate, who is especially well-equipped to train Aaron in the art of living in the shadows and on the run, skills which will come in handy the older Aaron gets, as he will undoubtedly come under increasing scrutiny by the Maxwell Group. For now, a strategy of 'hiding in plain sight' under the care of the highly-visible Kate may serve Ben's interest in ensuring Aaron's psychic 'coming of age', at least for a while.  I strongly suspect that Ben will use some of his patented 'leverage' to enlist Kate in a 'Sarah Conner' role, teaching and training Aaron in the fine arts of deception, evasion, disguise, fake identities, etc., ironically all while 'hiding in plain sight,' leveraging the safety that is afforded by all of the publicity and notariety. At some point, when things die down, I would expect Kate to revert to her old behavioral routines, slipping from the radar of public scrutiny with Aaron in tow. After all, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, even when you agree to stay put and not leave the state, especially when the fate of your child becomes threatened by the Maxwell Group. So ironically, Kate's great weakness-- her skills in and propensity for slipping away unnoticed when the 'heat begins to rise' and things start to get tough-- will help advance Ben's goal of ensuring Aaron stays out of the clutches of the Maxwell Group so that he can be enlisted as a super-psychic warrier in Ben's 'Future Force.'
---> As Sawyer said in this episode, Kate is always "lookin' for some excuse to split"! (And, she is always looking for the 'back entrance'!)
Along the way, Kate plays the 'Sarah Conner' role to her 'John Conner' equivalent (Aaron), helping him learn how to survive so he can grow and mature into his 'destined' role in helping to save us all from being terminated, in the future war with the Maxwell Group. (Aaron will only be eight years old when he is called to war, but his accelerated psychic development, coupled with evasive training from Kate, and later training from Walt, Desmond, and Ben, will help ensure he is ready up to the task at hand. Yes, he will indeed be a young Dr. Manhattan-equivalent.1 More on when he will be called upon to fight for the future, below....)  And yes, as Ben-Yoda is fully aware, Sun and Jin's offspring provides a second potential 'super-psychic-warrior-savior' in the crucial fight for the future with the Maxwell Group. This points us to the meaning behind the cryptic clue served up to us on a platter, when Locke brought breakfast to Ben, telling Ben that these were the last two eggs on the island. Ben-Yoda knows that last two viable hopes for fighting the Maxwell Group's dark future are Aaron and Sun/Jin's unborn child:  Yoda: "Told you I did. Reckless is he. Now, matters are worse."
Obi-Wan: "That boy is our last hope. "
Yoda: "No. There is another."
 So while Aaron (like Luke Skywalker) may indeed turn out to be reckless-- and who could blame him from the learning experiences he'll undoubtedly acquire while on the run with Kate--there may be at least one 'backup super-psychic' in Ben's fold: Sun and Jin's offspring. But for now, we'll leave the focus on Aaron.... Not The End Of The World, But The End Of The World As We Know It?  So where is all of this headed, with Ben's Future Force vs. the Maxwell Group, fighting for the future, and Aaron on the run in future episodes, with Kate? Again, if we take a step back and drink in the larger picture, we see that seemingly disparate pieces of the puzzle have been falling into place for some time now, including a weird melange of concepts: tonight's  intriguing reference to Albuquerque (Sandia National Labs, more on this in Endnote 2., below), electromagnetism, wormholes, Casimir Effect, polar bears (signaling an impending polar shift?), I Ching and the bagua-tic (albeit mirror-reversed!) DHARMA logo, juxtaposed opposites (black/white, good/evil, etc.), parallel worlds/multiverse clues, and many more, including even Locke's 'sweat lodge' experience..... All pointing to what? What is the 'fight for the future' all about?  Here it is: December 21st, 2012. This is the judgment 'date with Satan's Doom' (play that tape, Hugo!) This is when it hits the veritable fan, the end of the world not in an apocalyptic sense, but rather an end to the world-as-we-know-it, as predicted by the eerily accurate Mayan calendaras predicted by the eerily accurate Mayan calendar and by Hopi prophecy. The winter solstice, a day on which the Sun will align with the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the heart of which contains... you guessed it... a massive black hole: "Our galaxy's central supermassive object has been a constant source of surprise ever since it's discovery some 30 years ago," Melia said. "Slowly but surely it has become the best studied and most compelling black hole in the universe. Now we're even finding that its apparent quietness over much of the spectrum belies the real power it generates a mere breath above its event horizon---the point of no return".... The Milky Way black hole "is one of the most energetic particle accelerators in the galaxy, but it does this by proxy, by cajoling the magnetized plasma haplessly trapped within its clutches into slinging protons to unearthly speeds," Melia said.(Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070227171005.htm) And how interesting that one of the observatories used to study this region is named after someone figuring quite prominently in our cherished Lost lore: "The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, US, the world's largest single-dish submillimetre telescope, was one of the observatories used to observe the central region of our galaxy." Yes, December 21st, 2012 is a 'conceptual syzygy' of sorts, a confluence of catastrophe theories linking a myriad of end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it predictions. The usual starting point is Pacal Votan, 7th Century Mayan prophet (603-683):  "Pacal Votan's prophetic call is alerting present-day humanity that our biological process is transforming, approaching the culmination of a 26,000 year evolutionary program. Bringing the return of universal telepathy, heightened sense capacity, and self-reflective consciousness, this is a return to the sacred domain of our inner technology. This grand cycle of evolution will culminate winter solstice, December 21, 2012 AD. This time we are now in has been called "The Time of Trial on Earth," "Judgement Day," "The Time of Great Purification," "The End of this Creation," "The Quickening," "The End of Time as We Know It," "The Shift of the Ages." It  is foretold that the completion of the Precession brings regeneration of Earth, offering awakening to all open, willing hearts. Many peoples spoke of these last days of the Great Cycle, including the: Maya, Hopi, Egyptians, Cabalists, Essenes, Qero elders of Peru, Navajo, Cherokee, Apache, Iroquois confederacy, Dogon Tribe, and Aborigines." So in addition to the Mayan calendar, this date has been linked with Navajo world-shift predictions as well, hence the relevance of the 'sweat  lodge' connection. This, in turn, just so happens to bridge to the X-Files, with Mulder experiencing the recuperative powers of the sweat lodge and the series finale showing good 'ol dark-side Cigarette Smoking Man engaged in a final face-to-face meeting with the rocket's red glare, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood black ops 'copter. As you'll recall, that series concluded with Mulder and Scully lying embraced on a hotel-room-bed, resting oh-so-insecurely in the knowledge of the impending date of doom.... Returning to the Mayan prophecies, consider these eerily relevant passages regarding the current era and the approaching 'end of the world as we know it': "Earth and her inhabitants are currently travelling through the 13th baktun cycle - the final period of 1618-2012 AD. This cycle is known both as "the triumph of materialism" and "the transformation of matter." The Maya predicted this final baktun would be a time of great forgetting in which we drift very far from our sense of Oneness with Nature and experience a kind of collective amnesia. Like a memory virus in which we begin to believe the limited reality of appearances and grow dense to the spiritual essence which fuels  this world, so humanity's sense of ego and domination has grown.... The presence of the clock gave birth to the notion that time lies outside our bodies - that it can be tracked by a machine, and that we can sit and watch it "fly" by tick-tock as though it is something linear, containable, and separate from the organic, flowing process of life. The adherence to the clock for our sense of time and timing is noted as the greatest obstacle to allowing the full telepathic abilities of the human to flower. Next came the Cartesian Coordinate Rectilinear Grid System (1637) which went on to establish the foundational platform of all modern math and science. Thanks to Rene Descartes (the man infamous for his quote 'I think therefore I am,') the ceiling of perception validated only the reality of the 3 dimensions of physical space. The coordinates of X,Y, and Z rendered the fourth dimension obsolete from our worldview. At that moment, time became reduced from its qualitative essence to that of a quantity. The mind who adopted the lens of the linear grid also adopted the limited perception of time as a 3rd dimensional linear progression of pure duration. Our societal paradigms have continued to operate with these limitations in place. Thus if something can not be seen, touched, or proven with measurements, it does not, in effect, exist. Through the Cartesian lens, Nature has become reduced to pure quantifiable resources - no longer a living qualitative aspect of ourselves, but now something outside of ourselves which we observe, analyze and ultimately come to replicate, manipulate, dominate, toxify, and even destroy or extinguish. As Rene Descartes stated plainly,"I perceived it to be possible to arrive at knowledge highly useful in life...and thus render ourselves the lords and possessors of nature." (Source: http://www.13moon.com/prophecy%20page.htm) Hmmmm.... Note the numerous, relevant connections to embedded themes observed in Lost to date. And consider that the Hopi predictions of an impending shift from the Fourth to Fifth world have also been linked with that date, and may be related to geomagnetic shifts and polar shifts:  "The war will be 'a spiritual conflict with material matters. Material matters will be destroyed by spiritual beings who will remain to create one world and one nation under one power, that of the Creator. That time is not far off. It will come when the Saquasohuh (Blue Star) Kachina dances in the plaza and removes his mask. He represents a blue star, far off and yet invisible, which will make its appearance soon. The time is foretold by a song sung during the Wuwuchim ceremony. It was sung in 1914 just before World War I, and again in 1940 before World War II, describing the disunity, corruption, and hatred contaminating Hopi rituals, which were followed by the same evils spreading over the world. This same song was sung in 1961 during the Wuwuchim ceremony. The Emergence to the future Fifth World has begun.... An ancient Hopi Indian prophecy states, 'When the  Blue Star Kachina makes its appearance in the heavens, the Fifth World will emerge'. This will be the Day of Purification. The Hopi name for the star Sirius is Blue Star Kachina. It will come when the Saquasohuh (Blue Star) Kachina dances in the plaza and removes his mask.... Reality is a metaphor in which we quest to find answers to the greater truth of who we are and why we are here. Something in our souls tells us that change is happening on a global consciousness level. The blue frequency is part of that. Sirius is Isis - Return to the feminine of higher frequency energies - Rebirth of Consciousness. Blue links to higher/future frequencies of consciousness as we spiral up through the patterns of Sacred Geometry. Blue - electricity - our reality as an electromagnetic energy grid program. Blue: Indigo children, the blue alien lady, Isis, the Pleiades, Sirius, blue galaxies, blue chakra, blue ray and ascended master, and much more that will come 'out of the blue'." Doc Jensen and his fans will take particular pleasure in noting the 'ISIS' reference in the above quote. And advocates of 'Omega Point'-based Lost theories will resonate with the references to "global consciousness level" and beyond. (Please see my "Psychic Kids" and "The Economist" pieces, regarding the Omega Point concept.)
----> Hmmmm.... Aren't those pictographs on the wall of Aaron's room all the more intriguing, considering the material in this section?! Of course, the true extent of the disruption that may occur on December 21, 2012-- physical, social, economic, etc.-- remains to be seen on the show, and in our lives on terra (in)firma. But don't be surprised if we find our own lives disrupted in a 'here-comes-that-Y2K-feeling-again' mode, as we approach the end of 2012, in the real world of our everyday lives. 'Leading Us To The Promised Land': Aaron's Role(s) In Ben's Future Force- The 'Sarah Conner' reference to Kate on the run with Aaron, in the future, sheds some light on intriguing plot developments and twists as we head into the final seasons of the series. I suspect the Maxwell Group, assisted in part by Mr. Abbaddon who is so interested in what has happened to people on the island, will strive to identify, track down, and kill those whose paranormal powers have been significantly augmented by exposure to the island, including Walt, Aaron, and Sun/Jin's yet-to-be-born child. And yes, this is not altogether unlike the X-Files story arc involving  GIBSON PRAISE who, on some interesting and fundamental levels, may turn out to be the functional equivalent of Aaron and Sun/Jin's child, on Lost. In future episodes I would not be surprised to find Aaron and Kate on the run from the Maxwell Group's clutches, much like we saw Gibson and Dana (Scully) on the run from the Cigarette Smoking Man and his 'Maxwellian' dark-side group. Again, I strongly suspect that Ben's force will ultimately prove to be working for the good/benefit of Earth A's continued survival, while the Maxwell Group will be looking to save itself at all costs, perhaps even at the expense of Earth A's existence....  So how might Aaron figure into all of this? Why might Ben be so interested in cultivating a race of island-born super-psychics? And why might the Maxwell Group be so bent on their destruction? Although Sayid's 'hit man' tactics have an undeniably appealing finality to them, through killing members of the opposing group, I suspect that both sides also are leveraging less mundane/more supernatural forces in the fight for the future. With this in mind, I would not be surprised to find Desmond, Walt, Aaron, and Sun/Jin's future child to be involved in Ben's Future Force, fighting the Maxwell Group's attempt to write its own self-interested future story/timeline through applying their psychic abilities to achieve some or all of the following beneficial effects: * The ability of psychics (Desmond, older Aaron, etc.) to flash forward and backward, across time, engaged in TEMPORAL REMOTE VIEWING operations to gain critical intelligence on the covert operations of the other side, in the past and the future. * Remote viewing operations in time, across space (STANDARD REMOTE VIEWING), engaged in observations generating intel on what the other side is doing in the present, in different parts of the world or even on different (parallel) worlds. * Combined SPACE-TIME REMOTE VIEWING, gathering intel across space and time, finding out what the other side is doing in other parts of the world (or on other worlds), in the past and the future. * Exploiting the island's TEMPORAL DISTORTION for material/financial gain (see my piece "The Economist", in this regard.)
----> YES! Tonight's episode-- Frank, Des, Sayid, in the 'copter, with Naomi's body-- not yet arriving on the freighter(!) confirms my suspicion in "The Economist" posting, that the island space-time distortion is RELATIVE, not absolute! It may be difficult to exactly retrace one's steps/bearing whilst leaving the island, producing different amounts of space-time distortion. Maybe Aaron and other super-psychics have the ability to....
 * Provide guidance in determining the proper bearing along which to proceed, to and from the island, traversing the island 'event horizon' boundary in order to transport material and people to the desired places and times (elsewhere and elsewhen.) In this sense, psychics may serve as spatiotemporal compasses, not altogether unlike finding waypoints so things and people do not get lost through becoming unstuck in space-time.... (Thus spake Zathras!) * Don't be surprised to see that Aaron and other psychics turn out to be the real 'STONE TEMPLE GODS,' as we find in future episodes that the Temple on the island is a super-hot-spot for energy dynamics, perhaps even the focal point for the island portal between parallel worlds. Even if the portal does not turn out to be focused there, I would not be surprised to see a psychic-standoff between Ben's Future Force and the Maxwell Group, with both sides attempting to leverage the Temple's energy to their own benefit. * Aaron may turn out to have even greater control over his 'flashes' ability to move forward and backward across time. This may be the 'Dr. Manhattan' lost-link that shows us how powerful Aaron really is, able as he is to move across space-time, effecting 'authorial' changes in rewriting Minkowskian story-timelines, serving as the master editor of reality. Is Aaron the super-psychic space-time trump card Ben has been searching for, all along, to save Earth A? * Like Gibson Praise, Aaron may also be able to READ OTHER PEOPLE'S MINDS. This would indeed be beneficial in fighting for the future. (And maybe this is why Jack does NOT want to visit Kate when Aaron's with her.... Aaron can read Jack's mind, even at his current young age!) * As we saw with Locke's legs, Aaron may be able to carry a 'piece' of this HEALING capacity with him, to the mainland. Will Aaron, like famed healers throughout history, be able to 'miraculously' heal the sick, the injured, and the infirm?  * Desmond experiencing pain/turbulence from crossing the island's space-time 'event horizon'; will Aaron be immune to this (another Dr. Manhattan-like super-power)? * And there are more psychic related roles that Aaron may play in Ben's Future Force, including the projection of energy fields to REPEL FORCES, to generate PROPULSION, and to even throw a wrench into bird-brain navigation systems and perhaps generate sufficient EMP to 'fry' electronic devices within a certain radius.... In conclusion, I'm looking to Aaron as the ONE/NEO who will ultimately deliver us from the evil grips of the dark-side group's entropic agenda-- self-interested gain through sowing the seeds of chaos and destruction on our homeworld-- leading us through 'Satan's Doom' to the 'promised land' of Hopi Fifth World existence, returning to higher frequency energies and higher levels of consciousness and connectedness.... Copyright 2/22/08 by Dr. Todd J. Hostager Email: thostager@losthematheory.comENDNOTES:
1. One intriguing meaning of the clue 'Xanadu' is that it "is home to the comic strip character Mandrake the Magician, created by Lee Falk, believed by some to have been the first bona fide superhero." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanadu) So this may indeed be a reference to Aaron's future ascendance to 'Dr. Manhattan'-style super-powers.
2. What a great reference provided by Jin, pointing to Albuquerque, New Mexico.... Is there a HEMA Theory connection? Yes, indeed, this is home to Sandia National Laboratories, a U.S. Dept. of Energy research and development lab: "It is Sandia's mission to maintain the reliability and surety of nuclear weapon systems, conduct research and development in arms control and nonproliferation technologies, and investigate methods for the disposal of the US's nuclear weapons program's hazardous waste." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandia_National_Laboratories.) Sandia's secondary foci are even more intriguing: "Sandia is home to a wide variety of research including computational biology, mathematics (through its Computer Science Research Institute), materials science, alternative energy, psychology, and cognitive science initiatives. Sandia formerly hosted ASCI Red, one of the world's fastest supercomputers until its recent decommission, and now hosts ASCI Thor's Hammer. Sandia is also home to the Z Machine. The Z Machine is the largest X-ray generator in the world and is designed to test materials in conditions of extreme temperature and pressure. It is operated by Sandia National Laboratories to gather data to aid in computer modeling of nuclear weapons." Yes, you can begin to imagine the relevant implications.... "Thor's Hammer is the first supercomputer using the Red Storm architecture. In 2004, the computer was installed at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The project is a collaboration between Cray and Sandia Labs." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCI_Thor%27s_Hammer.) Thor's Hammer is part of a larger endeavor: "The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (formerly called Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative, or ASCI) is a supercomputing initiative of the United States government, created to help the maintenance of the United States nuclear arsenal after the 1992 moratorium on nuclear testing." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Strategic_Computing_Initiative.) This sounds like not a bit unlike the 'Skynet' system which served as the platform for the evolving artificial intelligence which launched a nuclear 'armageddon' in the Terminator series. And the Matrix storyline comes to mind, too.... (FYI, google 'Project Xanadu' for even more connections to computerized intelligence....) But for me the most intriguing aspect of the Sandia reference is the Z MACHINE:  "The Z machine is the largest X-ray generator in the world and is designed to test materials in conditions of extreme temperature and pressure. It is operated by Sandia National Laboratories to gather data to aid in computer modeling of nuclear weapons.... The Z machine fires a very powerful electrical discharge (several tens million-ampere in less than 100 nanoseconds) into an array of thin, parallel tungsten wires called a liner. The high electrical current vaporizes the wires, transformed into a cylindrical plasma curtain. Simultaneously, the current density induces a powerful magnetic field and their combination creates Lorentz forces which radially compress the plasma into a z-pinch process. The imploding plasma produces a high temperature and an X-ray pulse which can create a shock wave in a target structure. The target structure is placed in a cavity inside the wires called a hohlraum. The powerful fluctuation in the magnetic field (an "electromagnetic pulse") also generates electric current in all of the metallic objects in the room." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Machine.) ----> Hmmmm.... was there a 'Z Machine' version or equivalent behind all of that concrete in the Swan Hatch, prior to its implosion?!?! Let's consider more effects generated by this fascinating machine:  "Originally designed to supply 50 terawatts of power in one fast pulse, technological advances resulted in an increased output of 290 terawatts, enough to study nuclear fusion. Z releases 80 times the world's electrical power output for a few billionths of a second; however, only a moderate amount of energy is consumed in each test (roughly equal to the electrical energy consumed by 100 U.S households in two minutes[quantify]). Marx generators are slowly charged with energy prior to firing.... Sandia announced the fusing of deuterium in the Z machine on April 7, 2003. This application could result in an efficient method to ignite a nuclear fusion reaction starting from a small capsule of deuterium. Unfortunately many technical difficulties — for instance the small quantity of deuterium that can be contained in the hohlraum and the practical impossibility to transfer the compressed capsule to a larger nuclear fuel reservoir — prevent the machine to be used this way, for the moment." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Machine.) So while the fusion capabilities of the machine are yet to be realized, isn't it interesting to consider that DHARMA may have been exploring this kind of device as a means of generating energy to help power the needs of an exploding population on Earth?  "At the end of 2005, the Z machine produced plasmas with announced temperatures in excess of 2 billion kelvins (2 GK, 2×109 K) or 3.6 billion °F, even reaching a peak at 3.7 billion K or 6.6 billion °F. It was achieved in part by replacing the tungsten wires by thicker steel wires. This temperature, which enables a 10% to 15% efficiency in converting electrical energy to soft x-rays, was much higher than anticipated (3 to 4 times the kinetic energy of the incoming wires on axis). Thus far, it is currently the highest man-made temperature ever achieved according to The Guinness Book Of Records. The origin of this extra energy still remains misunderstood, but it has been theorized that small-scale MHD turbulence and viscous damping would convert magnetic energy into thermal energy of the ions, which then would transfer their energy to the electrons through collisions." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Machine.) Yes, all of this talk about Z Machines, plasma, and MHD (MagnetoHydroDynamics) has got me thinking about.... Hannes Alfven! (Please see the end of my "Beginning/End" piece in this regard.) The goal now is to further develop the Z Machine as a fusion power plant!
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