Monday, September 3, 2007

"A Cosmic Rubik's Cube"

Lately we've been wondering how TPTB are going to bring together all the elements that we are gathering concerning the Wishbox, the Casimir effect, time travel, the Island properties, etc. Consider the puzzle pieces that we have to work with so far (mostly in order of appearance):

- castaways with possible ESP abilities
- large amounts of contained magnetism

- catastrophic forces of some sort
- exotic experimentation
- the Island's special properties (including, or not, the magnetism)
- time or parallel reality travel (possible wormhole activity)
- a "wish box" that can somehow "materialize" one's thoughts
- the Casimir effect and quantum activities
- the possibility of duplicating material objects

I am not even going to touch the quantum physics of this bunch of bananas. Many blogs are talking about that more knowledgeably than I ever could. What I'm thinking about is how these elements are related and might work together toward the end result. Do the magnetism, the Casimir-like properties, and the ESP abilities, etc., have to all be at specific "settings" like a prescribed set of variables where all these peculiar components have to be in place for it to work properly? And can anyone "man" the controls of the apparatus in the Orchid video, or does someone with special powers like Walt have to be plugged into it as a part of the variable equipment settings?

Another question is, if you want something to "appear" via the Box, does the operator just need to think of what he wants to materialize, or does the apparatus allow him to travel through space to retrieve it? That is, does the thought-command activate the retrieval, or does the object wished for have to be physically gone after? From what we've seen since landing on the island, it looks like mere thought might activate some kind of spontaneous mechanism. Jack saw his dad, Kate saw her black horse, etc., and even Charlie's guitar might have been a part of that kind of materialization factor (thanks Memphish for that theory!). Ben also said that they had nothing to do with Locke's father appearing on the island and that Locke's mental obsessiveness brought Cooper there.

In the Orchid video, they talked about setting controls on the equipment for a desired result, but they didn't get what they expected. We've guessed that was the problem with the Dharma-built apparatus -- the function that it was supposed to perform hadn't quite been perfected into producing an exact result, causing the Incident. In this case, experimentation with a scientific prototype would be very dangerous. They built this great machine to harness and increase the random effects of the Island, but they weren't able to control it after all, so is it now a wormhole run amok (like a Water-Wiggle at the end of a garden hose)? Similar to the movie "The Cube" where the tesseract rooms shuffle every so often, the Island machine could be like an inter-dimensional Rubik's cube. Did Dr.Candlewickwax lose his arm during one of the Island's spontaneous cosmic shuffles?

12 comments:

Cool_Freeze said...

Oh noo...I've decided LOST is all just a big metaphor for life itself. HAHAHAHAHAHA :)

Cool_Freeze said...

Also, now that summer is coming to an end, I should have more time in LOST mode...so more metaphors are comin straight at ya. =]]]

As far as the little bits of information coming together, I think that it is safe to say that all of the components won't fit together...at all..

but the writers will piece them somehow. haha

Capcom said...

You've got a very good point there CF, TPTB will make them fit no matter how crazy it sounds! :o) At least let's hope so.

pgtbeauregard said...

Capcom, do you think there really is a metaphorical box, or did Ben just make that up? I've been pondering that one for a while.

Amused2bHere said...

Oh, it's a puzzle alright! I'm with you, Capcom, I need more tidbits of answers, just a little bit more, to tide me over the rest of this awful hiatus.

I can't speculate any more. My brain is cramping!

Waiting for Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, at least Dr Who, Monk and Psyche are back, and Ugly Betty is starting up again soon...

I might just have to check out what my life is doing! Egad!

(btw, Cap, I don't always comment but that don't mean I ain't stoppin' by to do some 'pearlin'!)

Capcom said...

Well PGT, I'm just thinking that with the mentions of the mega-magnetism, the island's special Casimir properties, and whatever it is that they were planning to exhibit with some equipment in the Orchid, all those things might just go together into one apparatus that does something strange. And maybe that the ESP thing is connected to it as well.

I think that Ben was probably just lumping all these things into one easy-to-say-catch-all phrase by saying it's a"box". Why he didn't just say "machine" instead I don't know, and probably means that I am totally wrong. :-)

I know what you mean Amused. And thanks for pearling and commenting!

pgtbeauregard said...

So, is Ben taking credit (or attributing credit to Jacob) for the supernatural things that happen? Does he really know the secrets of the island, or is he being manuipulated by someone else:

Sorry to answer a question with more q's.

Just how educated is Ben? He came to the island when he was just 14 or so. Did they send him off to get his doctorate in electro -magnetics?

Once again, my head hurts from it all - you'all have such good comments and theories, - Capcom, I said TPTB should tap Memphish for a writing job, same goes for you.

Capcom said...

Thanks so much for your comments PGT! Memphish thinks of much better twists for stories than I do tho. I should just wait and see what TPTB will do with all this, but like nature hates a vacuum, I hate an unsolved mystery and can't help myself!

Your Q is a good one. And I can answer with even more Qs, haha! :o) Are Ben and Co. utilizing the apparatus that the DI left after their demise (well, I guess not now that it's been blown up!)? Is that why they needed Walt, because they killed off the DIs who had the ESP to use the equipment or island powers? Or are they only using the island's power naturally now, via Jacob's powers? OR! Did the Others try to use Walt's powers to fight Jacob's powers? Ugh.

Ben seems like a very self-taught and self-made man (with his personal traveling safari tent of books and all!), but did he also have to figure out how to use the island's power somehow after the hostile take-over? Uh-oh, BRAINPAIN! :-(

memphish said...

Do you think when this mosaic is complete Darlton will issue a new jigsaw puzzle allow us to assemble it? :-)

As for Ben's education level - I think it's all book knowledge and on Island "lab" knowledge, but not practical real world knowledge. I also still think Ben's Others don't understand The Swan or what was The Swan.

Capcom said...

I agree with you about Ben Memphish. His lack of real world skills may also contribute to his desire to stay on the island. Deep down inside, he could still be that scared little nerdy boy. Also, he would probably want to stay to remain the big fish in a little fishbowl on the island, rather than becoming just a small fish in a big fishbowl back in The World.

I would buy that puzzle!!

Unknown said...

hi ..just passing by to say helo^^
great blog...!!

Capcom said...

Thanks Claire! :-)