"The story [of 'The Sentinel'] deals with the discovery of an artifact on Earth's Moon left behind eons ago by ancient aliens. The object is made of a polished mineral and pyramidal in shape, and is surrounded by a spherical forcefield. The first-person narrator speculates at one point that the mysterious aliens who left this structure on the Moon may have used mechanisms belonging 'to a technology that lies beyond our horizons, perhaps to the technology of para-physical forces.' For millennia (evidenced by dust buildup around its forcefield) the artifact has transmitted signals into deep space, but it ceases to transmit when the astronauts who discover it breach the forcefield. The narrator hypothesises that this 'sentinel' was left on the moon as a 'warning beacon' for the possible intelligent and spacefaring life that might develop on Earth. This quote illustrates the idea, and its ramifications: 'It was only a matter of time before we found the pyramid and forced it open. Now its signals have ceased, and those whose duty it is will be turning their minds upon Earth. Perhaps they wish to help our infant civilization. But they must be very, very old, and the old are often insanely jealous of the young.' In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the operation of the sentinel is reversed. It is the energy of the sun, falling for the first time on the uncovered artifact, that triggers the signal that creatures from the Earth had taken the first step into space."
Kubrick Connections II: "HALp Me"
Per the prior speculation by Doc Jensen and others, I do expect that Desmond will achieve a Dr. Manhattan-like transformation at series' end, and anticipate that some sort of ancient monolith, artifact, or device will play a role in this transformation (Atlantean?) Despite this "2001" Star Child connection, I now firmly believe that a more important Kubrick connection is to be unearthed through going beyond the surface of the EVA pod homage, to considering the CONTENT and PURPOSE of the exchange between Bowman and Poole....
To fully appreciate the depth and breadth of how their exchange intersects with and informs the future of Lost, we need to go back to a fundamentally important aspect of the vision for the show. As we learned from the interviews contained in disk seven of the boxed DVD set for the first season, a key creative breakthrough for Abrams and Lindelof was understanding that the island itself would play a central role as a bona fide character in the show.
Part of the magic of Seasons One and Two was observing the 'magical' phenomena occurring on the island, through the eyes, ears, and adrenaline of the Flight 815 survivors, as they were scared by sights, sounds, and effects beyond their imaginations... Dinosaurian noises, popping trees, a black-smoke 'monster'.... Many of us scrambled to make sense of this from logical, scientific, technical, and other non-magical standpoints... Is 'Smoky' is a 'nanobot-cloud' homage to 'Rover' the rambling weather balloon, from 'The Prisoner'? Are the 'popping trees' part of a security system aimed at protecting the island? Is this feature a result of an ancient system devised by the Atlanteans, or is it a more recent addition by DHARMA or some other group? Or are these seemingly 'magical' phenomena really the product of some psychic's over-active imagination, channeled through and augmented by the island's unique electromagnetic energy?
As Season Three progressed, our knowledge of the 'Smoky' monster's modus operandi was expanded as we observed Juliet apparently being 'scanned' by the monster, implying that it might be accessing her thoughts, emotions, memories, and more. Certainly this may shed more light on the appearances of Kate's horse, Sayid's cat, Hurley's Dave, etc. And we learned more about the possibilities regarding what may lie beneath statements like "The island demanded a sacrifice," and other statements of like/similar ilk made by Locke and Ben, strongly implying that per the vision of Abrams and Lindelof, the island really is a literal and 'living' character on the show.
Let me get straight-to-the-point about it.... What the "2001" EVA pod homage did for me-- especially when I considered the content and purpose of Bowman and Poole's conversation in the pod-- is to tip my thinking about the island's role as a character on the show, from: (1) a view of the island occupying a more passive role, serving as a source of energy to be leveraged by the thoughts, actions, and emotions of the persons inhabiting the island; to (2) a view of the island as an active character, serving as more than simply a source of unique electromagnetic energy..... In short, it's alive in some of the same ways as HAL 9000....
What did Bowman and Poole talk about in their EVA pod chat? They were justifiably concerned with the turn of events on the ship, the growing power of the HAL 9000 unit as their caretaking 'mother', their ultimate fate in the hands of such a caring yet increasingly controlling overseer, and the need to take charge and put an end to it/HAL....
HAL 9000's situation is the island's situation.... The parallels are striking and telling, indeed. The island and its original inhabitants appear to have coexisted in a symbiotic relationship for decades, perhaps even centuries and millennia. The island takes care of the Others, and the Others take care of the island, with benefits proceeding from and accruing to both parties in the equation....
Imagine the shock to the integrity of this relationship when DHARMA arrived on the island, with its 'infestation' of new people and technology. Now it is even easier to see why these elements had to be purged.... Moreover, it is easier to see why 'Jacob' does not like technology.... Think about it... If the island is 'alive' in the sense that it has some form of consciousness and self-awareness (like HAL 9000), then technology used by 'outsiders' to explore and exploit the island's electromagnetic energy certainly could entail the grave outcome of altering, disrupting, and upsetting the physical make-up of the island, from which its very consciousness arises.... (Note: We may find that this disruption also involves the careless unearthing, examining and inadvertent damaging of ancient devices by DHARMA and other more recent visitors, devices which eons ago helped establish the complex neural network on the island, in the first place....)
DHARMA's presence and activities on the island-- constructing buildings and hatches, importing and applying new technologies, and engaging in a range of scientific experiments focused on the Valenzetti Equation-- had the profound and direct effect of messing with the island's consciousness, which is based on, and derives from, the physical configuration of matter comprising the island and the strong and strange pattern of electromagnetic energy resulting from this configuration. We may find that the particular locations of high (and low) electromagnetic energy on the island are not random, but in fact if we were to take a large step back, we would begin to see a pattern of nodes in the neural network that is the island and its consciousness.
Imagine you are the island, and a group of people arrive and start cutting into your 'brain', even removing large portions of neural matter (as in the case of Magnus Hanso and others mining 'black rock' magnetite from the island). This would amount to excising portions of a brain which, up to a point, would still allow the brain to function, through the existence of redundant systems and the ability to shift functions from one area of the brain to another.
But at some point, the intrusive infection and destructive ablations must be addressed, lest the patient fall into a coma and die... Are you infected by DHARMAns placing neural implants into your brain (the hatches)? Purge 'em! Are you under the scalpel against your will, with Magnus and his Hanso-atic league of merry miners excising magnetitic masses comprising your neural nodes? Purge 'em!
Is your continued existence threatened again, through fervent and dedicated attempts by Flight 815 survivors to contact the outside world? Prevent these attempts at all costs, with help from your symbiotic Others, who benefit from your continued existence as a caring, giving 'mother.' Of course, it was smart of you (the island) to nurture a new, strong leader (John Locke) to take up the mantle from one (Ben) who was increasingly exploiting this symbiotic relationship, for his own gain.
You (the island) are a source of great healing, life-sustaining, and life-extending power. Your original inhabitants (the Others) benefit greatly from this power, while these inhabitants help you to survive the threat of detection and intrusion, especially by those wielding technology that could very well permanently disrupt or destroy your consciousness.... No wonder you, and your oracular manifestation Jacob, do not like technology.
HAL 9000 would certainly understand the island's predicament.... After all, they both were seeking to fulfill their part of a mutually-beneficial symbiotic relationship with humans, when the very integrity of their existence as conscious entities was put under direct and dire threat....
HAL 9000's situation has some striking parallels to the island's situation, past, present, and future. The integrity of the island's consciousness-- its physical 'brain' consisting of charged magnetite deposits serving as neurons in an island-wide neural network-- has been seriously challenged through Magnus Hanso's mining activities (ablation), DHARMA's neural implants (the hatches), and now through threats from Jack using the cell phone to contact the ship offshore. If surmises by J. Wood and others turn out to be true, and Thomas Mittelwerk (or someone else) brings new people and technology ashore, the island and the Others will face yet another crucial challenge to their continued symbiotic existence....
Like HAL 9000, the island does not want to die or to be 'lobotomized' through further ablations (mining) or disruptions to its electromagnetic neural network (through technological devices used to explore, exploit, and/or alter this energy.)
This is why Jacob does not like technology. And in the Season Three finale, Locke finally begins to 'get it' at a deeper level, namely, that the island is alive in some consequential and symbiotically beneficial ways, and that he must be prepared to kill in order to protect the caretaker/'mother' that is the island who cried out to him in an oracular manner, through Jacob: "HALp me!"
We will have to wait and see if, per the prior predictions in my DHARMA & GAIA (5/3/07) and Ben Sybil GAIA (5/10/07) commentaries, the island does indeed turn out to be a neural network, regulating systems and processes on a global scale, i.e., the island is really the 'brain' of GAIA.
A New Narrative Structure For Lost? Deep Flashbacks-
In my earlier commentary "Lost Legacy Theory" I correctly predicted that the show would expand its narrative structure beyond flashbacks. The novel use of 'flashforwards' in the Season Three finale was a welcome, entertaining, and engaging expansion of approaches to narrative structure in Lost. Here's hoping that Lindelof, Cuse, and crew continue to surprise us by including the use of another new narrative structure in future episodes/seasons: The 'Deep Flashback.'
Deep Flashback refers to an idea I proposed in the Lost Legacy Theory commentary, focusing on one of the next logical steps in the development of flashback structure, namely, providing us with flashbacks telling the story of the island. I'm not expecting this new structure to show up in the Season Four opener, but at some point it would make sense, given that the island has been conceived as a character in its own right. More importantly, this would add considerable new variety and additional creative space, through showing us what happened when Magnus Hanso arrived via the Black Rock, how the temple was built, by whom, and for what purposes. Did the four-toed foot originally have five toes, or not? How was this foot created, and by whom? Etc.
In brief, I expect we will see more artifacts in the coming episodes/seasons, including ones associated with the temple Ben referred to.... And per my comments on the judicious use of unanswered questions in helping establish and sustain a legacy for Lost as a source of renewable insight throughout the ages, I would suspect that some of these ancient artifacts and devices will not be explained.
In addition to opening new creative space for entertaining us and stimulating our puzzle-solving drives, a 'deep flashback' approach would open some intriguing new space for considering who might wish to appear in future episodes of Lost.
Hmmmm.... If we do get a 'Desmond is Dr. Manhattan transformation to a higher plane' plot in the final season, it would be interesting to see them use a 'Deep Flashforward' narrative structure, too....
Vile Vortices: More Than One 'Lost Island' On Earth?
Lost fans from around the world have pondered whether or not the 'Lost island' will be explicitly connected in future episodes to the notions of a 'lost' civilization of Atlantis, Lemuria, etc. And some have surmised that there may be a connection to the weird electromagnetic phenomena associated with the Bermuda Triangle. I must admit that in my younger days, I purchased and eagerly devoured the spate of 'Triangle' books as soon as they hit the store shelves!
Those who study the literature on the Bermuda Triangle will eventually come across a phrase with admittedly weird but intriguing possibilities for Lost--
'Vile Vortices':
"The Vile Vortices are said to be twelve areas distributed more or less evenly around the globe that are alleged to have the same qualities as claimed for the Bermuda Triangle. Five are located on a latitude near the Tropic of Capricorn; Five on a latitude near the Tropic of Cancer; and one each at either of the Poles. Together they form the vertices of an icosahedron. The best-known Vile Vortices are the Bermuda Triangle itself, the Devil's Sea near Japan, and the South Atlantic Anomaly."
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vile_Vortices)
So this tells us where the Vile Vortices are, but what are they, and how does this relate to the island and occurrences on Lost?:
"The existence of the Vile Vortices was first advanced by noted naturalist and author Ivan T. Sanderson. Sanderson thought that conflicting air and sea currents in the regions covered by the Vortices contributed to the anomalous phenomena he observed there. These phenomena included strange sky and sea conditions, mechanical and instrument malfunctions, and mysterious disappearances. In 1973, a Soviet science magazine published a more detailed version of the theory. Three scientists, Nikolai Goncharov, Vyacheslav Morochov and Valery Makarov, in the article "Is the Earth a large Crystal?" in Khimya i Zhizn, posited "a matrix of cosmic energy" covering the Earth, made up of twelve pentagonal plates. The junctions of any three of these plates (62 junctions in all) had, they claimed, strange properties. For instance, several were sites of advanced prehistoric cultures, such as at Mohenjo-Daro, Egypt and Peru; and some areas had much unique wildlife, for example at Lake Baikal."
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vile_Vortices)
Hmmm.... Very interesting, indeed! "Anomalous phenomena," "strange sky and sea conditions, mechanical and instrument malfunctions, and mysterious disapperances," a matrix of energy involving junctions with strange properties, several of these linked to "advanced prehistoric cultures".... This does sound an awful lot like a certain television show we cherish....