(5/25, 5/26, 5/28, Diamagnetism material added on 5/29) 5/31 Note to readers: Doc Jensen's recent Lost column entitled "Flash Forward Thinking" makes reference to Lynne McTaggart's concept of a "zero point field." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-point_field and http://www.livingthefield.com/) My concept of an "existential singularity," while not inconsistent with McTaggart's views, goes well beyond her approach and J. Woods' notion of history being rewritten by suggesting that the island's energy field has created the functional equivalent of an "existential singularity"-- an alternate reality nexus-- in which it is possible: (1) to move back and forth, in a Bohmian manner, between alternate paths/universes of pasts/presents/futures-- this is not the same as rewriting history, which is a directional, entropic, irreversible phenomenon!-- as well as (2) to communicate with entities existing in other dimensions, which may well turn out to be the case with Jacob... A 'Bohmian' existential singularity can explain why Bernard and Rose were gone but have now returned-- multidirectional movement among alternate paths/universes--while a 'rewriting history' view cannot, unless it is altered or amended from its directional form, in a Bohmian manner. According to a Bohmian existential singularity view, it is entirely possible for Bernard and Rose to come and go, from our perspective as observers, and for Christian Shephard to die and reappear in full red-blooded form, since all possible combinations of pasts/presents/futures have already occurred and are accessible through the existential singularity resulting from the island's unique electromagnetic energy field. The esteemed writer J. Wood (and I am a big fan of his work!) may indeed be conceiving of 'rewriting history' in this way-- being able to move forward, backward, and all-ways, among these alternate paths. If so, we are in agreement. Indeed, my notion of a Bohmian existential singularity provides a basis for a 'rebooting' mechanism, when the island is viewed as a video game, since from a Bohmian perspective it is possible to come back after all of your life force has gone, but it is a different, alternate version of 'you-ness' that is here, now.... So, is Charlie alive or dead? Yes. From a Bohmian point of view, both are simultaneously true and false, since all possible combinations of events have already occurred and are present in the present. The island's energy is opening a node or nexus (a space-time rift) enabling movement among these possibilities, and Desmond's tripping through time is one example of this 'Bohmian/Minkowskian' consciousness, only Desmond's view showed us the temporal movement/dimension, and did not show us the spatial possibilities he could have tripped along, instead. (For example, we could have been shown Des tripping between different alternate past/present/future combinations....) So did Charlie die from being strung up by Ethan? Yes. Did Jack save Charlie's life through vigorous CPR? Yes. Did Charlie die from the lightning strike at Claire's tent, on the beach? Yes. Did Desmond save Charlie from this lightning strike? Yes. Did Charlie die drowning while swimming out from shore to save Claire? Yes. Did Desmond prevent Charlie from drowning, by saving Claire, himself? Yes. Did Charlie die from taking an arrow to the throat? Yes. Did Desmond save Charlie from taking the arrow to the throat? Yes. Did Charlie die in the Looking Glass station? Yes. Did Charlie somehow survive the Looking Glass station? Yes. This is not some facile, tricky, figurative relativity.... No, it is the literal relativity of Bohmian/Minkowskian space-time.... Desmond is not seeing flashes of potential futures (e.g., Charlie 'death visions'); rather, Desmond is tripping between and seeing actual occurrences, things which have already happened, it is just from our particular position as observers in the now/present of space-time that we perceive they have not yet happened and are future possibilities. The point here is that when and where and whether Charlie dies under particular circumstances does matter, but not in a way that we are wired as a species to perceive.... Yes, when and where and how Charlie dies has reverberative effects, and to us these effects appear to change/impact history, the present, and potential futures, since that is how we are wired to experience reality. What the 'Magic Box' island is showing us, in part, is the inherent limits to our perceptions and enactments of reality, in a perpetual present which to us appears to be a moving point along a linear past-present-future path. Given enough electromagnetic energy, such as that found on the island, it may be possible to shift between alternate reality paths, as in the case of the myriad life/death path potentials for Charlie, which again, in reality have already occurred, but from our inherently flawed vantage point in space-time appear only as alternate futures. So what Des is seeing to us appears to be different alternate futures, but in reality he is seeing (1) alternate realities which have already occurred, opened to his awareness and scrutiny through fleeting flashes of Minkowskian perception, and (2) the possibility to influence (through action or inaction) which 'alternate reality' occurs, in the perpetual present. Again, when and where and how Charlie dies does have reverberative effects, but we cannot know what these will be, as Des has discovered. And these reverberative effects will appear to us as changes in past/history, present 'realities', and in future possibilities. So Bernard and Rose 'dropping out of' and 'dropping back into' the perceived reality/present of the islanders may simply turn out to be due to the reverberative effects of Desmond's actions to save Charlie, informed by flashes of alternate Charlie realities, appearing to him as future events. Like Desmond, we cannot know what the reverberative effects of these actions will be. Desmond's flashes of alternate realities, appearing to him and to us as future possibilities, are enabled by the alternate reality nexus or 'existential singularity' opened by the island's unique electromagnetic energy.... The island is NOT shielded from space-time fluctuations but is instead the energetic source/node/nexus of these fluctuations. And the island is not simply part of some diffuse quantum interconnectedness, but instead is able to leverage these interconnections, and more, through a pronounced and unique electromagnetic field, to produce a focused and unique site/venue for seeing beyond the typical constraints of our limited space-time perception. Indeed, the island's unique and powerful electromagnetic energy opens our experience of the Minkowskian 'present' and moves us higher levels of perception, enabling us to see and enact different, alternate paths/realities, forward, backward, and across space-time.... This is the focused phenomenon that I'm calling an 'existential singularity', a perceptual analog to a 'black hole,' in which our perception is opened to seeing and enacting alternate selves and paths. This is artificially expanded Minkowski perception, granted to us by the island's unique energy. All of the combinations of Charlie living and dying have already occurred. Any one of these 'realities' will, perforce, condition our forward- and backward- looking perceptions, i.e., how we perceive the past and foresee the future. What the island is doing, in a "Magic Box"-like manner, is opening us up to seeing and enacting NOT different futures, but different PRESENTs, in Minkowskian space-time, from a Bohmian perspective. So could Charlie reappear on the island? Absolutely. Will he reappear? Who knows. How would his reappearance affect our perceptions of the past, present, and future? We may find out, especially if we shift our focus to the possibility of Christian Shephard's reappearance. Again, instead of shielding us from fluctuations, the island is actually a node/nexus/singularity that enables us to participate in fluctuations, through opening us to seeing and enacting alternate paths in the perpetual yet shifting present.... This may be difficult to wrap your brain around, at first, but you will indeed catch fleeting flashes of this 'reality' of multiple realities.... An additional source of added value in the existential singularity concept is that it broaches the possibility that entities in these other dimensions may play key roles in explaining the Monster, the voices in the wilderness, and more. Please see my commentary below, in these regards.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KARMA CHAMELEONS: MINKOWSKI, BOHM, JACOB AND THE EXISTENTIAL SINGULARITY IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.... "Karma is not about retribution, vengeance, punishment or reward; karma simply deals with what is. The effects of all deeds actively create past, present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to others. In religions that incorporate reincarnation, karma extends through one's present life and all past and future lives as well. It is cumulative." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma) I was very pleased to see Lost deviate from the all-too-familiar flashback structure. Per my 4/5 commentary ("Lost Legacy Theory"), I had been hoping the show would spread its creative wings beyond innovative content, to include innovations in storytelling structure, as well.... And how interesting that by including a future-focused structural device, Lindelof, Cuse, and crew have now sent a clearer message that an important subtext to the more obvious themes of damnation, redemption (etc.), is the interconnectedness of our lives in and across space and time.... In brief, an important subtext of Lost is that marvelous 'George Bailey' moment when we realize our presence and participation in the space-time continuum does have significant reverberative and resonantial impacts, up and down and across the continuum.... What we say and do affects the paths and projected futures of others.... But we already knew that, didn't we? Is that all there is to the interconnectedness subtext of Lost? One of the crucial strokes of genius in Lost is how it promotes learning about interconnectedness through entertaining storytelling. On a deeper pedagogical level, the show is functioning as a creative catalyst for seeing, appreciating, and internalizing the broader pattern of interconnectedness found in materials drawn from multiple fields of inquiry throughout human history, including relationships among the following: * Karma, sin, damnation, redemption, predestination, etc. (Religion); * Choice, free will, determinism, fate, etc. (Philosophy); * Cause/effect, space-time, relativity, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Godel's incompleteness theorem, quantum mechanics, nonlinearity, recursion, matter, energy, fields, etc. (Science); * Love, hate, ingroup/outgroup dynamics, self-interest, altruism, lying, honesty, betrayal, loyalty, etc. (Social Science); * Etc.... Throughout the history of human inquiry, our attempts to apprehend the world have invariably led to more questions than answers.... Armed with the latest theories and technologies, amplifying and expanding our sensory, perceptual and conceptual powers, we find the nature of 'reality' is not unlike that slippery old Number 6, refusing to be 'pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered....' Now, I am not suggesting we adopt an anthropomorphic view of 'reality'; rather, I am suggesting that the real analogue to Number 6 on the island of Lost is not any one character, but instead is that slippery ole notion of 'reality' that we are trying to come to grips with, in our everyday lives.... In short, what Lost is showing us is that the interconnectedness of reality extends to our own flawed and spatiotemporally-located brains, sensory apparati, shared knowledge, and more.... We are wired to perceive reality in particular ways, including space-time relations, and years of theoretical and technological advancements have extended our ability to apprehend reality in impressive ways, revealing weird and fascinating glimpses of 'other' aspects of reality.... So one of the deeper lessons emerging from our accumulating body of knowledge is that we are connected to each other and the surrounding world in a myriad of weird and seemingly magical ways, from our point of view as a spatiotemporally located, delimited, and defined species (class of entities). (Please see my "Lost PPM" commentary for further discussion of some current challenges and opportunities associated with juggling Enlightened and Postmodern views....) Lost is an engaging and entertaining attempt to expand the consciousness of the masses through stimulating interest in bits and pieces of the growing mosaic of interconnectedness in our understanding of 'reality.' Religion, philosophy, art, science, social science, literature, and beyond.... From a functional perspective, Lost is serving as a catalyst for profound and impactful learning on personal and social levels, enabled by and channeled through the world wide web of the internet.... Our new insights provide us with a fresh basis for seeing who we are here and now, who we might become, what we were, and how we can actively engage the world and each other in order to effect positive changes in our present and future paths.... Interconnectedness Through BEing Here Now: Toward a Minkowskian View of Our Existential Singularity- So Juliet 'gets it' when she responds to Sawyer's query regarding why she wants to go back to the beach for Sayid, Jin, and Bernard.... It's karma... It's about.... ....BEing HERE NOW ("Be Here Now", authored by Ram Dass, aka Richard Alpert). It's about nurturing and operating from a more enlightened (and postmodernly uncertain) view of oneself and one's place in a fundamentally interconnected world.... Juliet's remark to Sawyer, and her subsequent actions, symbolize our dilemma in a post-postmodern world.... We are aware that: * We make choices which are constrained by available information, resources, and more.... Free choice is never fully free, especially since we are not omniscient and we are spatially and temporally located beings.... (Now, if there were a way to somehow influence or redirect where and when things were headed.... Maybe a certain lost island?!) * We possess the ability to discern right from wrong, good from bad, helpful from harmful, but we are not always sure about our judgments, since we are aware of the inherent incompleteness of our knowledge concerning past, present and future effects (Godel; can you see Minkowski space-time connecting to this....!) * We are able to logically think about how to respond to situations and at the same time we are open to considering what our 'gut feelings' or intuitions are telling us. Moreover, we know that while we cannot know exactly how our actions will influence others and the future, we know that an influence will likely occur, and proceed armed with a certainty of uncertainty (Heisenberg).... BEing Here Now means that our thoughts and actions occur within a broader awareness of fundamental interconnectedness among ourselves, the material world, the energy fields pulsing through us, and more.... It is an informing node of EXISTENTIAL SINGULARITY, within which our ego collapses and we are able to experience momentary glimpses of the 'otherness' that is associated with seeing (and being in) the broader interconnections that cut across levels and modalities, including yet-to-be-discovered dimensions of reality... BEing Here Now is a means of opening the self to experience momentary glimpses of Minkowskian consciousness, simultaneously entailing: * Selfish selflessness, and selfless selfishness (Charlie's drowning) * Heroic cowardice, and cowardly heroism (Jack letting the clock run out) * Creating reality, and the reality of creating (choices enact Minkowskian reality through opening up new sets of probabilistic futures, and through selective rewriting of pasts.... Desmond saving Charlie, thus opening new future possibilities, as well as affecting the past and the present... tip of the hat to J. Wood, here!) In summary, through exposing us to different aspects and manifestations of fundamental interconnectedness, Lost is helping us grasp and appreciate how each of us-- moving as we are, through interconnected social/physical/energetic/spatial/ temporal (etc.) fields-- can experience moments of transcendent existential singularity, fleeting flashes of insight and intuition on a higher plane of awareness, that inform and guide our thoughts, feelings, and actions. In this sense, Lost is serving as a global learning initiative, leveraging television, our creative imaginations, our competitive desire to solve the puzzles better and faster than others, our cooperative drive to build on and improve the ideas of others, and the undeniable power of the internet as a means of raising consciousness regarding the profound opportunities and threats we face, in a fundamentally interconnected world..... The more we study ourselves, the world, and the universe, the more we see how things are interconnected.... Minkowski, Bohm, and the Existential Singularity- I really resonate with J. Wood's proposal that Desmond's actions to save Charlie changed the past, present, and future, and that the island's unique electromagnetic properties may somehow enable it to stay anchored when a space-time shift occurs: ''So if we're dealing with Minkowski space and all time is occurring at once, then there is only a present, no past and future. Furthermore, with enough electromagnetic energy, you can play on the boundaries between these dimensions. It seems we have the geologically unique electromagnetic energy, and Des is tripping along the dimensional boundary of time that the electromagnetic implosion has exposed. So perhaps when Des saves Charlie, he's not just changing the future (as it were), but also the past and the present. If that's the case, one of those acts of heroism may have altered history, and Flight 815 was found with everyone dead. Only the island is immune from these fluctuations, again because of its geologically unique electromagnetism." (Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20039837_2,00.html) I concur with this general approach, and believe this sets the stage for a deeper appreciation for what is happening on the island and, indeed, who/what Jacob really is.... My 2/20/07 commentary ("Quantum Connections") focused on work by physicist David Bohm and others to show how Rose might be able to really 'know' that Bernard was o.k., prior to their reunion following the Flight 815 crash. This commentary also introduced Bohm's concepts of wholeness, implicate order, and explicate order. Like Minkowski, David Bohm views space-time as an existential 'black hole' of sorts, with the past, present, and future collapsed together.... Indeed, Bohm believes that any and all possible pasts and futures have already happened, simultaneously, and that what we experience as reality is a product of our physically and physiologically-wired sensory, perceptual, and cognitive abilities.... In my 5/17/07 commentary ("Lost Doppelganger"), I proposed that space-time rifting was possible and was occurring on the island, exposing persons experiencing one space-time line/path to another, alternate, space-time line/path. Given that commentary, the work by Bohm and Minkowski, J. Wood's proposal, and what we have seen on Lost to date, here is what I believe is really happening on the island... The Island is Functioning as an Existential Singularity- What does this mean, how does it happen, and what are the results? Like J. Wood, I believe the island's unique electromagnetic properties enable some very interesting phenomena to occur. In addition to opening a temporal boundary for Des to trip along (see the J. Wood quote, above), I believe the island's power also extends to opening boundaries in space-time relations. In short, I propose that the island's electromagnetic properties are such that it is functioning as an EXISTENTIAL SINGULARITY, i.e., a node or rift at which boundaries of space-time relations are opened, resulting in some weird yet powerful effects: 1. Island inhabitants are alive but are experiencing 'lost time'. Time on the island is not passing at the same rate as on the 'mainland' of our everyday world. We will see next season how much of a gap or differential there is, especially if the Flight 815 survivors are indeed rescued.... (For example, will the survivors arrive back on the mainland at precisely the time one would expect, given how much time passed for THEM, on the island, or will they arrive on the mainland with more or less time having passed, in relation to the time they experienced on the island- temporal relativity effects?) 2. At the end of the 5/23 episode, Jack tells Kate they need to go back to the island. Although this might be attributed to Jack's unhappiness with his life on the mainland, post-rescue, one implication of the episode is that the death Jack read about in the newspaper affected him so much, he wants to go back to the island to change the course of events/history. If this turns out to be true, then Jack realizes the island is a unique place with power to change the path or direction of history/reality.... (FYI, I think he read that Juliet had died.... This also links to the potential for temporal relativity... especially if Jack wants to return to the island to effect changes in the space-time continuum, averting the death of the person whose funeral he mentioned to Kate, at the end of the season finale.... See below for an even funkier possibility!) 3. So in addition to enabling Desmond to 'trip' forward and backward in time, I'm proposing that the island also enables people to shift between alternate histories/realities/futures. This power is consistent with an alternate universe view, and with Bohm's idea that all possible combinations of everything have already occurred; it's just we're unable to see/experience this.... Again, I'm proposing that the island is an Existential Singularity that enables us to do this, among other things, including.... 4. The properties of the island open up a 'rift' in space-time that enables persons from alternate pasts/presents/futures to switch paths. Imagine a version of yourself from a different past/present/future switching places with you (and you with them). Please note that I am NOT proposing that the island is a black hole in the traditional sense; rather, I am proposing that the functional effect of the island's electromagnetic energy is that it opens up a rift/node in space-time that produces unique and powerful results in how we experience space and time.... 5. The strong electromagnetic properties of the island are responsible for periodic 'purple rain' bursts of EMP which emanate outward, with the ability to 'fry' electronics and even produce effects such as splitting apart aircraft in the vicinity. In the special aired just prior to the 5/23 Season Three finale, Lindelof and Cuse confirmed the Swan Hatch burst when Desmond missed the number punching was responsible for the downing of Flight 815. This is one of the reasons DHARMA found it best to travel to the island underwater, by SUBMARINE, to avoid potential EMP bursts.... 6. In addition to producing pronounced EMP bursts and space-time rifting through opened boundaries, I propose that the electromagnetic-field-induced existential singularity on the island also produces an 'existential event' horizon shielding the island from detection and scrutiny by outsiders, making it difficult to find: "In general relativity, event horizon is a general term for a boundary in spacetime, defined with respect to an observer, beyond which events cannot affect the observer. Light emitted from inside the horizon can never reach the observer, and anything that passes through the horizon from the observer's side is never seen again." What I am proposing here is that the electromagnetic field of the island is so pronounced that it is able to bend/deflect light to such an extent that the island is not observable to outsiders, unless and until those outsiders cross the event horizon (parting of the clouds, then I saw the island....) Radio waves are able to penetrate the event horizon, however.... (And if you think the ability of electromagnetism to affect light is far-fetched, please see the 3/16/07 "HEMA Science" page, for evidence this may indeed be possible.) 7. In addition to bending light, the island's powerful electromagnetic field makes electronics go haywire, especially at the electromagnetic existential event horizon surrounding the island, above the waterline. Naomi's helicopter crashing into the ocean is one example of this effect. So a second reason DHARMA was smart to use a submarine to travel to the island is that in addition to avoiding the potential disaster of a 'purple rain' ElectroMagnetic Pulse, they avoided deleterious effects of the island's event horizon on the equipment operating in the sub. All of this points to some good reasons why DHARMA would consider using HOT AIR BALLOONS and PARACHUTES to transport supplies to restock the larder with white-and-black labeled goodies....! 8. Although salt water conducts electricity, since it is DIAMAGNETIC it has a low magnetic permeability and susceptibility, the effect of the latter being a weakening of the magnetic field in the presence of water: "Diamagnetism is a form of magnetism that is only exhibited by a substance in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field.... All materials show a diamagnetic response in an applied magnetic field; however for materials which show some other form of magnetism (such as ferromagnetism or paramagnetism), the diamagnetism is completely overpowered. Substances which only, or mostly, display diamagnetic behaviour are termed diamagnetic materials, or diamagnets. Materials that are said to be diamagnetic are those which are usually considered by non-physicists as "non magnetic", and include water, DNA, most organic compounds such as oil and plastic, and many metals such as mercury, gold and bismuth.... Diamagnetic materials have a relative magnetic permeability that is less than 1, thus a magnetic susceptibility which is less than 0, and are therefore repelled by magnetic fields...." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetic) "In physics and electrical engineering, the magnetic susceptibility is the degree of magnetization of a material in response to an applied magnetic field.... There are two other measures of susceptibility, the mass magnetic susceptibility in cm3•g-1 (χ or χg) and the molar magnetic susceptibility (χm) in cm3mol-1 that are defined as follows where ρ is the density in g•cm-3 and M is molar mass in g•mol-1.
χg = χv / ρ χm = Mχg = Mχv / ρ
If χ is positive, then (1+χ) > 1 and the material is called paramagnetic. In this case, the magnetic field is strengthened by the presence of the material. Alternatively, if χ is negative, then (1+χ) < 1, and the material is diamagnetic. As a result, the magnetic field is weakened in the presence of the material." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_susceptibility) So traveling underwater to the island via submarine does have the benefit of traveling in a weakened version of the island's magnetic field.... Interestingly enough, another effect of diamagnetism is levitation:
"A thin slice of pyrolytic graphite, which is an unusually strong diamagnetic material, can be stably floated in a magnetic field, such as that from rare earth permanent magnets. This can be done with all components at room temperature, making a visually effective demonstration of diamagnetism.... The Radboud University Nijmegen has conducted experiments where they have successfully levitated water and a live frog, amongst other things." It would indeed be interesting to see Locke, Ben, or some Others levitating in an upcoming episode, perhaps as part of a weird ritual tribute to the island, held at the temple.... Climbing Jacob's Ladder- So what do I think we'll see in Season Four? They'll be rescued, and we will see them attempt to settle back into their mainland lives (these scenes will be the 'present'.) We will also see the use of flash forwards, to show how they're all coping with reentry into 'everyday' life on the mainland, with mixed results, since life on the mainland has changed (You can't really go home, after all....) A new storytelling innovation will be the inclusion of a second set of 'present' scenes, with accompanying flash forwards, this set dealing with those people who have chosen to remain on the island, including Locke and the Others. Ben will stay, if Jack lets him, but Jack may decide that instead of killing Ben, a far worse fate/punishment would be to take Ben off the island, back to the mainland, as a prisoner.... In summary, I would not be surprised to see the show utilizing two sets of present-future alternations, during Season Four: 1. Flight 815 survivors choosing to leave the island. The 'present' scenes for these people will involve preparations for leaving the island, meeting their rescuers, the trip back to the mainland, and the more-difficult-than-they-anticipated process of reintegration to everyday 'mainland' life. The 'future' scenes for these people will show how their mainland reintegration is occurring with mixed results..... 2. Locke and the Others, staying on the island. The 'present' scenes for these folks will be very interesting, especially if Ben remains on the island. In any event, I suspect that Locke's stock will have grown to such a point, having recovered from the gunshot wound, that he will become the de facto leader of the Others. Locke will therefore have the opportunity to help Jacob ("Help Me") be free of Ben's influence, and perhaps more importantly, will be able to work to make it difficult for 'mainlanders' to return to the island (restoring the block on outgoing transmissions, etc.) The 'future' scenes for these people will show Locke leading the Others in weird tribal rituals, another set of people brought to the island for dramatic tension (and ingroup strengthening among the band of Others, through focused purpose in dealing with these new people, leveraging classic psychological dynamics associated with ingroup/outgroup relations and superordinate goals). Through these scenes, we will catch glimpses of how very different the island will be, when Jack/Moses leads a band of Flight 815 survivors back to the island, in the latter part of Season Four.... Per the flashforward in the 5/23 finale, in Season Four I suspect we will learn that Juliet has died and that Jack is so despondent he wants to kill himself. In the finale, Jack meets with Kate, and tells her they need to go back to the island. What we haven't yet learned is whose funeral it was that prompted Jack to want to jump off of the bridge.... Earlier I surmised it might be Juliet. But while this may turn out to be true, what if the person who died was really.....BEN?!?! Now THAT would be quite the trump KARMA card for Lost producers/writers to play! If next season we learn that Jack did indeed change the sentence he pronounced on Ben in the 5/23 episode, and instead of killing him right before they left the island, Jack decided an even worse fate would be to take BEN along, off the 'Magic Box' island against his wishes, to the mainland of everyday life.... Can you imagine a worse fate, for Ben?! And would it not be sweet karma if the very act of taking Ben off the island contributed to Jack's bad karmic post-island life? So when Jack tells Kate they need to go back to the island, is there something more than simply returning to what they now realize is a more life-ful existence on that Magic Box island? I suspect there is more to it than this, and that Jack wants to return to the island to alter the past-present-future storyline, leveraging the island's power. This may involve bringing the deceased person's body (the funeral Jack mentioned to Kate) back to the island, for a Lazarus-like recovery. Whether it is Juliet or Ben, there may be a significant karma-aspect in the sense that Jack is looking to reshift the space-time storyline through the 'Magic Box' island.... During Season Four, Jack and other Flight 815 survivors on the mainland will meet and plan a return to the island. They will return to the island, only to find that... the island itself has now changed in some very interesting ways, since their departure..... These experiences will provide the survivors with additional information about the island's powers and limits, which will help set up Season Five and the ultimate denouement at the end of Season Six. Hmmm... will they return to find Locke commanding the tribe of Others, in a manner not unlike Brando in Apocalypse Now....? And will they find that yet another flight of survivors has been stranded on the island? During Season Four we may also see a new form of flashback, per my "Lost Legacy" prediction, revealing more of the island's past/history, perhaps even depicting Magnus Hanso's visit, and more.... I strongly suspect we have not seen the last of the DHARMA Initiative, past, present, and future! I would also not be surprised to see Lindelof, Cuse, and crew deciding to play the 'karma' card more fully, perhaps through storylines including elements where people try to change who they are, where they are headed, etc. Expect these attempts not to be entirely successful, since we will be shown that others' prior expectations and knowledge of us is a HUGELY limiting/constraining force on our life paths.... A strong figurative power of the island for us viewers is that simply getting to another place, away from the 'mainlands' of our everyday lives, can afford a chance for even a coward to become a hero.... (Our own 'islands' as blank slates, second chances, etc....) And what about 'Jacob'? Who or what is he? In the Lindelof/Cuse show prior to the Season Three finale, they noted that Jacob is higher than Ben, on the island.... Indeed, the island itself may be a tangible, physical instantiation of the Jacob's Ladder concept... a way to really get closer to God..... through weird/unique powers of space-time rifting.... Is God the ultimate existential singularity? Is the island a portal to experience glimpses of this? Who is Jacob? One pattern figuring more prominently in Season Three is that the "Monster" appears to be accessing memories and leveraging images and information... (For example, the 'scanning' of Juliet.... And the appearances of Kate's horse, Sayid's cat, and Hurley's friend Dave, in prior seasons....) One interesting implication of this 'MEMORY SCANNING' phenomenon is that Jacob may simply be a name and image appropriated from Ben or someone else, by a superior 'entity' that exists on the island. This entity is either working with the Monster, or the Monster is one expressed/materialized aspect of this entity. Thus, one function of the Monster is to access memories to obtain a means of interacting/interfacing with the people on the island. Jacob is a name conjuring certain images and meanings, including those from biblical sources. Perhaps the entity thought that 'Jacob' was the most appropriate name/signifier to use while interfacing with us, given these meanings (the entity is higher on the ladder, reaching toward 'God'.... a more powerful, other-dimensional being, etc.) The Jacob/entity may have some very good reasons for not liking technology, including: technology may be used to find the island, to scientifically demistify the magical occurrences on the island, and perhaps even to thwart or 'kill' the island's power. (Hmmmm... how big of a magnet would we need....?!) Jacob appeared to Locke in the guise of Walt, a most appropriate and effective image, given the entity's goal of soliciting Locke's help in protecting itself through stopping communication with the outside world. Walt/Jacob commanded Locke to do some work, and told him his legs were healed.... and next we saw the result of Locke doing Jacob's work, via the knife in Naomi's back, and the attempt to stop Jack from using the phone to contact the ship.... (Flashback.... hmmmm.... now the Swan Hatch 'Incident' of using the computer for outside communication-- strictly forbidden according to Dr. Marvin-- is beginning to take on some interesting additional meanings!) Why doesn't Jacob want the island's location known? One implication is that the forces attempting to find the island (including Naomi, Minkowski, etc.) are aware of the island's power and have nefarious, ulterior motives in mind, perhaps attempting to change the course of destiny, in their favor..... And what might a possible ENDGAME to the series look like? It certainly would be interesting to see alternate versions of the same character appearing on the island-- different versions of Jack, different versions of Kate, etc.-- involved in conflict and debate over what constitutes 'real' existence, who reserves the right to make such a determination, and who should live and die, on the island.... And what this means, for the characters and the viewers, alike.... P.S. We now know that the person whose death so affected Jack was a man whose first name starts with a "J" and last name ends with an "than". Speculation, as reported in Doc Jensen's recent column, is that this person is "Jeremy Bentham" or "John Latham". Please see Doc's colum for further details.... Copyright 5/25-5/31/07 |