my LOST theory

[DrDawkinstein]

The term “Dharma” refers to the concept of understanding the underlying order of Nature. The “Dharma Initiative” could easily be taken to mean a project that is trying to understand EVERYTHING about our existence. The main reasons to do such a thing would be either a need to be able to perpetuate our existence, OR even more so, RE-CREATE the physical world’s entire existence.

 

To take the wording right out of the Training videos:

DHARMA brought together "scientists and free thinkers" from around the globe at a "large-scale communal research compound" to conduct research in various disciplines, including meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and a sixth discipline that the film begins to identify as "utopian social…"

 

Now THAT sounds like a group of disciplines needed if you were going to re-create existence.

 

I think the basis of the show is going to be "science vs. god". Or more precisely, can Man be his own creator? The entire Dharma Initiative was a project to allow man to build his own universe, his own existence. They have succeeded in building the physical world much like our own Earth.

 

The hatches were NOT built into the ground; rather, the ground was built around the hatches BY the hatches and the people inside of them.

 

That was phase one. After it was concluded that they could build a physical realm, they brought in some animals to see if they could survive. After a lot of trial and error they were able to keep animals alive outside of the hatches. Next was on to Humans. Maybe they succeeded for a while. A little civilization grew; they built statues and what not. They were none the wiser that this was an experiment, if they were on the island FROM BIRTH; this was their entire world. They had no idea they were being watched as part of an experiment. But something was wrong with them. Something failed along the way.

 

There is something about the world they are in that makes them unable to reproduce. Its possible that it also makes people living on it very aggressive, and not just people, from the wild boar to the polar bears to all the survivors to that !@#$ who Juliet killed last week, EVERY living creature is over-aggressive (I know I brushed that off earlier, but after I thought about it I think you’re right).

 

The Dharma Initiative has been trying to collect babies to raise within their little community as if they were natives to the island and the Earth does not exist. They are trying to start a new project civilization. They are also working on fixing this reproduction problem.

 

*****AMENDMENT im slowly starting to think that there is no reproduction problem. But what they are after is being able to manufacture life itself COMPLETELY SYTHETICALLY. That way, they would have a completely man-made realm of existence and accomplish the final goal of “Man = God”. OR, they have been able to manufacture life, but the "Synthies" are unable to reproduce*****

 

When you hear people on/from the island talk about doing something “to save the world” (like push the button), it has nothing to do with saving the Earth. They are saving the Human world. They are building a place that Mankind can flee to when the sh-- hits the fan.

 

As far as WHERE the island actually is, right now, I have no idea.

 

As far as it seeming like the survivors had been hand picked to be on that plane that crashes into the island… my theory is - the Initiative picked a bunch of people that they knew were good people at heart but were in situations where they wished they could start their entire lives over. And manipulated it so they would be on that plane and come to the island. They also chose people that are inclined to BELIEVE without questioning. Look at all the spiritual people on that plane, or people willing to take leaps of faith. Locke, Eko, Rose, her husband, etc.

 

As far as this whole space/time stuff that was brought up in the last episode and can be traced back to Desmond flipping the failsafe - there is a well known theory that time and the passing of time is merely a defense mechanism manufactured by the brain because Humans can not comprehend that there is only one moment. Everything is happening RIGHT NOW, and this self-imposed illusion of linear time helps us digest what is happening at a pace that is suitable for our cognitive abilities.

 

The Swan (original hatch) was responsible for re-creating the passing of time in this synthetic universe. It is why Desmond knew what was going to happen. Its not that he has psychic powers necessarily, it is because when that machine reached critical mass and he was at ground zero, he was shown the moment that is now in its entirety.

[We Come In Peace]

Be careful how deep you dig or else you may end up in jeopardy just like Crayons. Scattered throughout LOST are clues to a conspiracy far greater than you can possibly fathom. It's not just about the show.

 

You've been warned.

[slothrop]

Other than the theory contained in my signature, the one I like is what the EW writer calls "The Redemption of Television Theory." Here it is:

 

HE REDEMPTION OF TELEVISION THEORY

The Secret Purpose of The Dharma Initiative and The Allegory of The Pearl Station

 

What do we know about The Pearl Station? You know, besides it looks like the ultimate geek basement — a couple reclining chairs, a wall of televisions, and a computer?

 

Nothing, of course. Oh, sure, there was an orientation video in the subterranean facility, which explained that the purpose of the station was to monitor a psychological experiment taking place in another hatch — namely, The Hatch, or Station Three: The Swan. According to the Pearl video, the occupants in The Swan believe they have been given a task ''of utmost importance,'' and the job of the Pearl occupants was to document everything the Swan people did in their notebooks, ''no matter how minute or seemingly unimportant.'' Still, how much can we really trust these films? After all, they're all about ''orientation'' — about controlling information, manipulating our attention, and facilitating a pre-determined response. (This would be my criticism of King's lovely ''writing is telepathy'' theory; aren't novels basically one-sided ''orientation'' narratives? But that's a conversation for another time.)

 

The Pearl video is filled with many distracting little details — lots of bunnies with numbers on them, if you will. But a couple jump out at me. First, the Pearl video makes a point of letting its viewers know that it is deliberately withholding information from them. In the video, the narrator, Dr. Mark Wickmund (who is also the lab coat-clad narrator of the Swan film, although he went by the name Dr. Marvin Candle) tells the Pearl occupants, ''What do [the Swan]subjects believe they are accomplishing as they struggle to fulfill their tasks? You, as the observer, don't need to know.''

 

Curious, huh?

 

It reminds me of the Swan film, with its ominous reference to ''the incident'' — although that, too, was conspicuously, deliberately unexplained. Curious, huh?

 

Curious, indeed. In fact, I think the whole notion of curiosity explains a big chunk of The Dharma Initiative. Here's my theory, based on information gleaned from the show, the annotations on The Map that Locke discovered in The Hatch, information supplied by The Lost Experience, and my own twisted, comic book-shaped imagination:

 

WHAT IS THE ISLAND?

The island was discovered by Magnus Hanso, presumably an ancestor of Alvar Hanso, founder of The Hanso Foundation, the financier of The Dharma Initiative. According to the annotations of The Map, Magnus Hanso is buried on the island, near Black Rock, the slave ship beached in the middle of the jungle. Given the island's unique properties — the electromagnetic energies, whispering jungles, and ancient statues — it's possible that Magnus believed he had discovered a mystical lost continent, which was a popular pseudo-scientific notion of the early 20th century.

 

WHAT WAS ALVAR HANSO UP TO ON THE ISLAND?

But Magnus' utopian-minded descendent had a different theory on the island. During the 1960s, according to The Lost Experience, Alvar Hanso participated in a U.N.-backed project to produce something called The Valenzetti Equation, a mathematical formula that predicted the expiration date of mankind. However, Hanso believed that if you could change the six most important variables in the equation, you could change mankind's destiny. Those variables just happen to be The Numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. Each of the numbers corresponds to an environmental factor that contributes to mankind's destiny on earth, including overpopulation. Hanso believed the island could be used as a means to change the world, and created The Dharma Initiative to accomplish that task. He didn't exactly explain how, and according to The Lost Experience, it doesn't really matter, anyway, because Dharma failed.

 

WHY DID ALVAR THINK THE ISLAND COULD SAVE THE WORLD?

Here's my theory: Hanso, a big fan of alternative pseudo-sciences, might have believed that the island was proof positive of something called a ''morphogenetic field.'' (Let's call this MG Field for short; check out Rupert Sheldrake at Wikipedia for more info. Trippy stuff.) An alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution, MG Field theory suggests that there could be a band of energy that connects all things, and this energy basically contains information. Our DNA molecules, per this theory, receive information from the field, and shape our bodies and minds accordingly so we can survive in our respective environments.

 

WHAT WAS THE DHARMA INITIATIVE?

According to Alvar, Dharma was an acronym for Department of Heuristics And Material Applications; alternatively, he referred to Dharma as ''the one true way.'' A heuristic is a fancy word that basically means, ''a way to solve a problem.'' Putting it all together, Alvar and The Dharma Initiative (sounds like a great name for a band) was trying to find a solution to save the world, and apply it to their chosen material — human beings.

 

My contention is that Alvar believed that the island is a conduit to the MG Field, and could be used to essentially reprogram human beings.

 

According to proponents of MG Field theory, this energy is accessed psychically. It works like this:

 

STEP ONE: An advantageous behavior PERFORMED by a member of the tribe;

 

STEP TWO: The behavior is OBSERVED by other members of the tribe, who recognize its benefit and adopt the behavior;

 

STEP THREE: The behavior is uploaded into the morphogenetic field and downloaded to other members of the tribe worldwide.

 

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO PEARL AND SWAN STATIONS?

I wonder if what Alvar was trying to do was teach human beings one simple behavior that could save themselves from self-destruction. That behavior?

 

Becoming self-aware.

 

And then, after enlightenment — action.

 

Consider again the Pearl video, which begins with a quote from Dr. Karen DeGroot, one of his Dharma collaborators:

 

''Careful observation is the only key to true and complete awareness.''

 

Alvar's hope was this:

 

The Pearl occupants would grow increasingly curious about the things they hadn't been told, and more than that, concerned about the test subjects in the Swan, especially as they ''struggled to complete their task.'' In fact, I think Alvar hoped the observers in the Pearl would become appalled by what they saw happening in The Swan, and feel guilty about their own participation in the experiment. Hanso hoped that the Pearl-based watchers would revolt against the system, free the Hatch inhabitants, and reveal to them the hidden structures that govern their lives.

 

In other words, what Alvar Hanso was trying to do was upload into the MG Field a bold new biological imperative that would change the world, a new appetite to replace the appetite for destruction:

 

The drive for ENLIGHTENMENT.

 

A desire for CHANGE.

 

But it didn't work.

 

WHY?

Because The Pearl observers didn't become curious about the alarming mysteries of their endeavor. They didn't become concerned about the struggles of The Swan occupants.

 

No, like good little worker bees, they just did their job, as instructed by the dubious dude in the video.

 

And like good little TV watchers, they just sat back and enjoyed the show.

 

Silly Alvar. He thought watching TV could actually save the world. But if he knew then what we know now, he would know that could never happen. Why?

 

Survivor. Big Brother. The Bachelor. Wife Swap. Temptation Island.

 

In other words: the guys in The Pearl were your average REALITY TV FANS. Watching people suffer? well, that's just funny! And those journals they were keeping?

 

BLOGS.

 

Television without pity, indeed.

 

Fortunately, we have Lost. Because Lost is all about promoting introspection and redemption; about taking a journey that reveals that truth of our lives, and inspiring us to live our lives differently, and for the better.

 

Right?

[CosmicBills]

Sloth, you and I have gone back and forth last year about where the show is going, and I like some of Dr. Dank's thoughts as well. Still, I have a different theory that seems to make more sense considering the totality of the show. Curious to hear your thoughts ...

 

My theory does not go into Dharma's original purpose, as Sloth's EW article points out, it failed. We know Dharma failed so it's not important to really understand it's original purpose, it's more important to understand why it failed.

 

Most of the videos have pointed out that there were a wide array of researchers involved in the project. From the basic sciences to the paranormal. It seems to me that the project failed because these two extremes collided and splintered. From the believers in science to the spirtual/supernatural believers.

 

This is backed up by the series' main theme: Science versus Faith. The Lost-Aways themselves can be divided into two tribes: those that believe in science (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Jin and Sun) to those that belive in faith (Locke, Charlie, Hurley, Claire, Desmond, Rose and Bernard). The writers have been ramming the notion of "two sides" down our throats since the first season. Think about the reoccuring themes of "black and white" (the backgammon game, the stones, Claire's dream) and "good versus evil". It's foreshadowing for the overall premise of the show.

 

Here's what happened: Dharma split between two tribes, the Others (as we know them) were those rooted in real science. But we have already seen that the "monster" does not work for the Others. It opperates on its own -- or so we think. I believe the monster works for the other side, the part of Dharma that belives in faith/supernatural. It scans people to see their faith (which is why Locke saw a white light and Eko saw a black monster). Both of these groups are looking to recruit new members but are only interested in like minds.

 

Hurley and Eko's stories are the key to figuring this out.

 

At the end of Season 2, the Others gave Michael a list of Lost-Aways to recover and bring to them. Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Hurley. They let Hurley go because he is too "faith based" and cannot be turned. He was just a messenger to tell the others on the beach not to come back. But they kept Jack and the others.

 

Eko was indeed spirtual, but lost his way. That is why the smoke didn't kill him until after he announced he was not sorry for what he did. However, the writers admit that this arc came too soon (Eko wanted off the show) -- so they had to rush it a bit. Eko's purpose was to save Locke (get him to push the button) and restore his faith. He did that by dying.

 

Okay, I rambled. And it's not fully formed. But that is what I think is really going on. It's a war between the original Dharma members. One side is science, one side is faith. And they are fighting over new recruits. The eye patch guy Locke saw? He is going to be the first "faith based other" we meet. He will open up a whole new side of the show.

 

Just a hunch.

[DrDawkinstein]

thanks for taking the time to read and post guys.

 

sloth, up until this last episode i was fully convinced that they were in a matrix-like therapy session as well. its jsut too convenient that EVERY time a character comes to terms with their past and grows as a person, they get killed off. EVERY TIME.

 

i made it thru most of that theory you posted but will need to re-read it tomorrow.

 

in case you guys havent seen the NEW web-eggs, go to www.mittelosbioscience.com and go to the Projects section. Log in as "jburke" using the password "rachel". you will find out about the islands and receive Juliet's new email message. it gets crazier from there.... happy hunting!

[Dr. Fong]

The best explanation I've seen is the numbers are a formula predicting the end of the world and Dharma was established to try to change components of the formula, such as human life span, in order to prevent the end of the world. Of course that's the short version, but I don't feel like typing a book this morning.

[dib]

Send these posts to the writers because they have no ing idea where the show is going.

 

Here's my spin. Giligan got hit on the head with a coconut. It's all a dream sequence.

[Buffan00]

Send these posts to the writers because they have no ing idea where the show is going.

 

Here's my spin. Giligan got hit on the head with a coconut. It's all a dream sequence.

DIB..you ALWAYS have the BEST avatars...look forward to seeing whats next!!!!

[tennesseeboy]

I think its a spin off of the tv show Dharma and Greg. The leader will be shown early next year as Jenna Elfman, the star of the show who nobody has seen in years, and who has hatched this diabolical show to attract gullible viewers week after week and year after year to end the show with one last episode of Dharma and Greg in which the cast has the opportunity to give the finger to the viewers for being so gullible.

 

I also subscribe to the theory that the little episodes between the various stories are corporate endeavors to sell us sh-- and that ALL of the people on the island are really actors, but I guess that is a little far fetched.

[buckeyemike]

Send these posts to the writers because they have no ing idea where the show is going.

 

Here's my spin. Giligan got hit on the head with a coconut. It's all a dream sequence.

 

My theory was Bob Newhart getting hit in the head with a golfball, and waking up next to Suzanne Pleshette.

 

Uh, never mind.

[DrDawkinstein]

3 hours and 45 minutes until my theory is completely blown out of the water!!!