Welcome to Lost HEMA Theory!

 

 

Facing Demise:  Lost In 'Napoleonic' Exile From Mainstreet Life, On This Island Elba/Earth- 

We all 'flashed' on the relevance of Ben's history lesson, effectively 'schooling' all of us on the dangers involved in the pursuit of power over others, for our own selfish needs and gain.  Yes, in addition to the electric acid kool-aid PINK LIGHT P.K. Dick test for dark/light, good/evil imbalance, good ol' Linus invoked yet another key 'mirror twin' test writ large on the small screen, and playing out in the course of our everyday lives: Left with a title/role/position, but without POWER....  So how would you feel if you LOST the war?  Exactly like Napoleon, Ben, Widmore, and Smokey/MIB....  

 

"In the first decade of the nineteenth century, the French Empire under Napoleon engaged in a series of conflicts—the Napoleonic Wars—involving every major European power. After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe and Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states. The French invasion of Russia in 1812 marked a turning point in Napoleon's fortunes. His Grande Armée was badly damaged in the campaign and never fully recovered. In 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig; the following year the Coalition invaded France, forced Napoleon to abdicate and exiled him to the island of Elba. Less than a year later, he escaped Elba and returned to power, but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon spent the last six years of his life under British supervision on the island of Saint Helena."

[Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Romulus and Remus (traditionally c. 771 BC–c. 717 BC and c. 771 BC–c. 753 BC respectively) are the traditional founders of Rome, appearing in Roman mythology as the twin sons of the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia, fathered by the god of war, Mars. According to the tradition recorded as history by Plutarch and Livy, Romulus served as the first King of Rome. Romulus wished to build the city of Rome on the Palatine Hill while Remus preferred the Aventine Hill. Both parties agreed that the question should be decided by augury and each took his station on the top of his respective hill. Remus was the first to see six vultures, but soon afterwards Romulus saw twelve vultures. Each claimed the augury in his favor and in the disputes that followed, Remus slighted Romulus' new city on the palatine and was killed: according to Ovid, by Romulus, who invented the festival of Lemuria to appease Remus' resentful ghost. After founding Rome, Romulus not only created the Roman Legions and the Roman Senate, but also added citizens to his new city by abducting the women of the neighboring Sabine tribes, which resulted in the mixture of the Sabines and Romans into one people. Romulus would become one of ancient Rome's greatest conquerors, adding large amounts of territory and people to the dominion of Rome. After his death, Romulus was deified as the god Quirinus, the divine persona of the Roman people."  [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus]

 

 

 

 

"Rhea Silvia (also written as Rea Silvia), and also known as Ilia, was the mythical mother of the twins Romulus and Remus, who founded the city of Rome. According to Livy's account of the legend she was the daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa, and descended from Aeneas. Numitor's younger brother Amulius seized the throne and killed Numitor's son, then forced Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin, a priestess of the goddess Vesta. As Vestal Virgins were sworn to celibacy for a period of thirty years, this would ensure the line of Numitor had no heirs. However, Rhea Silvia conceived and gave birth to the twins Romulus and Remus, claiming that the god Mars had discovered her in the forest and seduced her. When Amulius learned of the birth he imprisoned Rhea Silvia and ordered a servant to kill the twins. But the servant showed mercy and set them adrift on the river Tiber, which, overflowing, left the infants in a pool by the bank. There a she-wolf (Lupa), who had just lost her own cubs suckled them.Subsequently Tiberinus rescued the boys, to be raised by his wife Larentia. Romulus and Remus went on to found Rome, overthrow Amulius, and reinstate Numitor as King of Alba Longa."

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_Silvia]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with "cream") is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. (The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word μιμητισμός ([mɪmetɪsmos]) for "something imitated".)Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures. The British scientist Richard Dawkins introduced the word "meme" in The Selfish Gene (1976) as a basis for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, beliefs (notably religious beliefs), clothing fashion, and the technology of building arches. Meme-theorists contend that memes evolve by natural selection (in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution) through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance influencing an individual meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behaviors that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, and (for better or for worse) mutate. Theorists point out that memes which replicate the most effectively spread best, and some memes may replicate effectively even when they prove detrimental to the welfare of their hosts. A field of study called memetics arose in the 1990s to explore the concepts and transmission of memes in terms of an evolutionary model."

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme]

 

Thus we can see how aspects of meme theory and memetics are relevant to understanding the larger viral learning metagame of Lost.  Consistent with my 3/4/10 posting, contents embedded within each episode of Lost--ranging from overt clues to more deeply hidden Easter Eggs-- serve to inject viewers with IDEAS, infecting us all with the feverish pursuit of unlocking the relevance of the great idea/person clues encoded as 'educational software' into the growing body of Lost episodes.  Meme theory, and memetic processes in particular, help us understand the larger dynamics at work throughout an emerging and inherently social process of Personal Enlighenment and Cultural Evolution through VIRAL LEARNING, a.k.a. the DHARMA Initiative.... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Although modern MMORPGs sometimes differ dramatically from their antecedents, many of them share some basic characteristics. These include several common themes: some form of progression, social interaction within the game, in-game culture, system architecture, and character customization. Characters can often be customized quite extensively, both in the technical and visual aspects, with new choices often added over time by the developers. Many games also offer some form of modding in order to allow for even greater flexibility of choice.... MMORPGs almost always have tools to facilitate communication between players. Many MMORPGs offer support for in-game guilds or clans (though these will usually form whether the game supports them or not). In addition, most MMOs require some degree of teamwork for parts of the game. These tasks usually require players to take on roles in the group, such as those protecting other players from damage (called tanking), "healing" damage done to other players or damaging enemies.  MMORPG's generally have Game Moderators or Game Masters (frequently abbreviated to GM), which may be paid employees or unpaid volunteers who attempt to supervise the world. Some GMs may have additional access to features and information related to the game that are not available to other players and roles." [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG]

 

As members of the larger Lost learning community, we can readily and visibly observe the dynamics of social interaction operating among self-adopted and self-customized characters, some of which have been previously identified in the game role section of my 3/4/10 posting.  For example, I noted the mutually-beneficial relationships operating among SCANNERS, DATA MINERS, and GRAND UNIFIED THEORISTS.  Unlike the standard MMORPG, however, in the Lost MMORWG we instead see the work of the developers (CREATORS) focused more on the encoding of viral matter into each episode of the show, generating a much more fully emergent, self-organized, truly VIRAL learning approach; how very apropos, indeed, as an engaging and effective model for 21st Century learning.

 

Reflecting the inherently emergent, self-organizing, viral nature of the evolutionary learning process in the larger Lost metagame, other key functions of MMORPGs have been developed into the 'metagame' by us, the viewers, including:

 

*  Self-appointed MODERATORS and WEBMASTERS who help to supervise and enable the online collaborative learning activities.

 

*  Self-directed role-taking and role-making, with members of the Lost learning community adopting and moving between roles as they see fit, and adapting/customizing these roles as their own needs and the demands of changing situations dictate. 

 

*  Self-organized clan/guild-equivalents joined together by some shared bond of purpose and/or substantive focus.  For example, NERDS interested in pursuing science-based insights about and beyond the show will quite naturally self-select into groups clustered around like-minded posters and threaded discussion boards.  The same goes for SHIPPERS and for any other group aligned through a shared bond of purpose and/or substantive focus.

 

In addition to key functions developed by we the people, the Lost metagame players, further signs of cultural evolution may be seen through struggles with nomenclature, as witnessed in the 'Flocke' vs. 'FakeLocke' vs. 'unLocke' (etc.) battle for standardization.  Flocke appears to be winning out, although I do like unLocke for its various implications, including opening doors of insight. 

 

Forms of progression in the Lost metagame-- how do we know we're making progress?-- can involve one of several types, including:

 

*  Puzzle/Mystery-Solving-  How far we have progressed in solving the underlying puzzle/mystery of THE SHOW itself.  Here the paradigmatic mold has been set, and the bar has been raised, by the phenomenal Lostisagame site.  See also the work of Eye M. Sick, Mike(NY)'s Mirror Matter Moon, Doc Jensen, etc.  Of course, we have yet to learn which GRAND UNIFIED THEORY is sufficient to solve the show that is Lost, and we'll have to wait until the series finale to see how that one plays out....

 

*  Enlightenment-  The extent to which we have succeeded in the larger Lost learning community by leveraging the power of Viral Learning to generate an increasingly larger, creative, insightful, and valuable body of ideas/memes serving not only as a nontrivial basis for achieving personal enlightenment, but also as a rich resource for cultural transmission and evolution, contributing to enhancing the quality of online learning discourse and the collective IQ of the species....

 

Some additional real-world Lost Viral Learning Metagame roles that can be added to the larger list in my 3/4/10 posting include:

 

CANON COP-  A self-appointed 'sheriff'' who polices the contents of online Lost learner exchanges for breaches of the 'official' base of knowledge established in prior episodes and other officially-sanctioned source materials.

 

DETECTIVE-  Someone whose primary purpose is to solve the puzzle/mystery of Lost.  The Lostisagame site is arguably the work of the best lead detective, to date.

 

FANFICTIONER-  One who is driven to contribute to the larger learning metagame through generating Lost-based textual material building upon and going beyond what has been revealed to us in the show, to date.  Not to be confused with the efforts of SEERS working to discern what lies in the shadow of future plotlines, in an oracular manner.

 

MEDIATOR-  Someone who takes it upon him/herself to intervene in an ongoing online 'debate', attempting to help the involved parties resolve the conflict in a more civilized and mutually-beneficial manner.

 

MOLE-  A person involved with the production of the show enjoying inside access to information about the nature, contents, and/or direction of future Lost episodes, who subsequently leaks said information to the public.

 

REANIMATOR-  Someone who is attempting to breathe new life into an old theory or concept, bringing the view 'back from the dead' as a source of valuable puzzle-solving insights and/or enlightenment among the larger body of Lost learners.  One prominent recent example of beneficial reanimation is the resuscitation of Mirror Matter as a basis for understanding Lost and predicting what lies in the shadow of future plotlines.

 

SPOILER-  One who delights in posting revealing information regarding future Lost plotlines.  SPOILERS often rely on information about future episodes obtained from a SPY.

 

SPY-  Someone whose mission is to secure privileged information about future events in the show, usually through surreptitious means.  For example, someone who is not a member of the production crew and is present while they are shooting scenes on location in Hawaii and subsequently reports their findings to one or more other parties is a spy.

 

TASKMASTER-  A self-appointed role filled by one who is annoyed when online discussions stray off-topic, someone who intervenes to steer the discussion back on course.  Where relevant, the TASKMASTER may 'gently' suggest that the person straying off-topic repost their points to another more relevant online location.

 

What lies beneath the shadow of future plotlines?  Will we witness the emergence of a Lost 'Battle of Waterloo' equivalent?  And will the 'right/light' side eventually win, when Sideways Locke is later merged back with the island 'verse, taking on his DOPPELGANGER FLOCKE?

 

 

Time will tell....

 

Dr. Todd J. Hostager

 

 

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ENDNOTES:

 

 

1.  Please check out the intriguing theory proposed by Eye M. Sick at:

 

http://eyemsick.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html