I love it when people create a website to advance their particular view of pop culture. I mean, it's one thing to get into an argument at a bar over just what the hell was going on in The Matrix; it's another thing entirely to actually spend the time getting a domain name in order to preach your theories about it.So, when I stumbled onto Jason Hunter's "Time Loop Theory of Lost" website, I figured I would spend a few minutes mocking it and then move on. Instead, like Rerun and his run-in with the Babarambaba cult, I found myself completely converted. Seriously, I'm about to start worshiping a head of lettuce carved into a likeness of Locke. For my own sanity, I thought I'd share the theory with you guys and let you help me decide whether or not I'm insane for thinking it has merit.
[Possible spoilers! Or, possibly, no spoilers! Possibly, this is insane. Just to be on the safe-side, though, if you want the good people at ABC to unveil their secrets at their own pace, you might not want to keep reading!]
Essentially, Jason's theory about Lost is this:
1. It's possible to travel back in time. When you do travel in time, your physical body stays the same, but you "replace" the old version of yourself. So, if I were to travel back to 1994, I'd be the hairy, droopy 2008 version of myself in appearance, but I'd be the young, spry version of myself in action.
2. It's impossible to change the past. Even if you have the intent to change the past, Fate would find a way to make sure you accomplished whatever it is you need to accomplish. This extends to physical ailments as well. For instance, let's say, oh I don't know, your father pushed you out of a window and paralyzed you. When you went back in time, your body would be "healed" because Fate "needs" you to be able to walk to accomplish what you did the first time around.
3. The island on Lost, using the rules stated above, is in a constant time loop set in the year 1996. The process of entering the code every 108 minutes was to reset the time loop. Desmond failed to enter the code at the exact moment a plane was passing over the island in 2004, which allowed the plane to enter into the island, then immediately be sent back to 1996 when Desmond finally does enter the code.
Understand that I'm simplifying this theory down to its barest essentials. There are thousands of words of text over on Jason's site backing up his theory with evidence from the show. I urge you to check it out and report back here with your own analysis.
He's 99% converted me to at least the outlines of this theory. Can one of y'all talk me out of it?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
3-26-2008 @ 12:35PM
Jay Black said...
By the way guys, my apologies if this is old hat for a lot of you losties. I only found it recently (and truly by accident -- not like when my wife discovers pornography on my computer and I tell her that I "stumbled" upon it while reading about "science") and I wanted to share.
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3-26-2008 @ 5:04PM
kip (SSBB:3437-2813-1377) said...
Too much information...
3-26-2008 @ 12:56PM
BartmanDK said...
I too only got this a few weeks ago by a friend when we were talking about Lost, and i gotta say that this has me converted so im not going to try and talk you out of it.. If all this ends up beeing true and what the writers had in mind then kudos to them! Kudos to the guy who made the website becaus even though the website might look like a site from the early 00s it is a solid site!
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3-26-2008 @ 11:33PM
Sean said...
The thing is -- the site is from 1996 while we are currently living in 2008. Some weird time loop or something.
3-26-2008 @ 1:04PM
Adam said...
I am dumber for having read that
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3-26-2008 @ 1:13PM
Ian said...
I recall watching LOST in 1996 on TV.
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3-26-2008 @ 1:31PM
Robin W said...
I just found out about this website about a week ago, and after reading it, it makes sense. Or as much sense as anything dealing with time travel can make. This especially makes sense considering the episode where Desmond traveled back in time and met Faraday. Pretty cool!
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3-26-2008 @ 1:34PM
skim said...
Darlton said no multiple timelines.
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3-26-2008 @ 9:05PM
Jake said...
I read through it... I think his point is that fate is correcting for the possibility of an alternate/parallel time line. That's the whole point of fate. The moment someone tries to do something different or becomes a different person they die, because it was contrary to their fate. So while he illustrates different time lines, it's more for the benefit of explaining his theory. I think they are in fact all the same. People can't create a separate time line in that conventional (Back to the Future, Star Trek multiple realities) sense because fate intervenes.
As for the theory itself, I think it is great. Even if it turns out to completely untrue, it was fun to read and I think it's what's truly unique about the show. I don't see anyone putting in near the amount of effort for any other show on TV. That said, I think he has the constant thing pegged. It is time travel in a sense. The idea that you can travel back in your mind is straight from Vonnegut's Slaughter House 5, which is clearly referenced in the series. It's not Star Trek time travel or Stargate time travel, but he makes the point that since time travel doesn't really exist, Lindecuse can make it into whatever they want.
3-26-2008 @ 1:37PM
Joseph said...
So if the clock was being reset every 108 minutes, what happened when the hatch was destroyed? Does that mean the island was sent into the normal timestream? I realize sense is not a real part of any LOST theory, but I'd like to know what he thinks.
Plus, I'd understand if Ben could get his sub back and forth, but how would someone like Desmond crash his boat there in, when was it, 2000? I don't remember.
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3-26-2008 @ 1:52PM
Jon Eric said...
Regarding number 3... wasn't it established that entering the number sequence every 108 minutes discharged a build up of electromagnetic energy? How does that relate to resetting a time loop? And why is there still a time differential if that whole "system" in the hatch has been destroyed?
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3-26-2008 @ 1:53PM
Brian said...
I don't buy the time looping part because it (or rather, your summary) doesn't explain the destruction of the Swan. If its gone, and theres no more button pressing, why wouldn't these loops stop repeating?
I was under the impression that pressing the button discharged some of the natural energy the area built up. In not pressing the button on time initially, the magnetic waves built up, and that presumably is what ripped the plane in half. The second time he failed to properly discharge the energy, it reached a critical mass and Des hit the failsafe, releasing all the stored energy at once.
Who knows how it made him have his visions though. You could do some mental gymnastics and make a parallel with high gravity fields, or particles traveling faster than light, somehow shaking up his consciousness in 4 dimensional (Minkowski) spacetime.
but its too early to make and kind of definitive judgments
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3-26-2008 @ 2:00PM
Court said...
which allowed the plane to enter into the island, then immediately be sent back to 1996 when Desmond finally does enter the code........
Well we have already been told the plane at the bottom of the trench is a fake.... so this piece just contradicts the theory.
I didn't read the site but read your summary and it just doesn't fit with what I have been seeing over the last 4 seasons. Its a nice try but there are too many other parts to the lost mythos that don't fit in that explanation.
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3-26-2008 @ 2:07PM
Peter said...
I'm a believer! Just read the entire site and the author makes a very compelling argument.
Reserve judgement until you've read the lengthy explanation. The QA section also clears up some left over questions.
3-26-2008 @ 9:17PM
Jake said...
No offense to Jay but his summary doesn't scratch the surface. But thanks Jay for posting this! I saw this alluded to on the Washington Post Lost celebrity blog last Thursday and ignored it.
I like the theory and it is definitely more compelling than anything else I have read. I actually stopped reading internet theories midway through season 2. This one blows them away. That said, the details get confusing and its obviously not complete. It does a good job explaining the things such as constants, the pregnancies, Alpert's lack of aging, and the apparitions and the monster. It is still pure conjecture though that there is a time machine in the traditional sense, and the whole part about Ben, Alpert and Jacob romping through time can't be verified. But it is very creative. If nothing else it should earn the guy a spot on the writing staff! I also like that he comes out and says it's still conjecture and for entertainment. He's not trying to say this is it and he's nailed it. I recommend everyone read it... there is definitely something everyone can take from it.
3-26-2008 @ 2:05PM
Oreo said...
Why is it 1996 on the island?
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3-26-2008 @ 2:18PM
Bizaro Ben Linus said...
I'll buy this theory if it can explain to me one thing: How did Oceanic Flight 815 come to be flying over the island in the first place? If the island is unreachable, hidden, masked, or in some other way unknown to the world, why was the plane able to just pass directly over it? The pilots would undoubtedly have noticed an island that wasn't supposed to be there, so there would be a recording of it on the Black Box. So far, none of the theories I've heard have ever tried to explain the presence of the jet over the island, and it seems to me that the plane just being in Island airspace would be a pretty serious anomoly based on its highly covert status. Someone want to explain this to me? Anyone?
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3-26-2008 @ 2:37PM
jonathan said...
the plane was off course anyway, but having the plane survive the trip over the island would be an anomaly, seeing that it crashed makes it stick to the story. the author commented that if the right coordinates were not followed, "coordinate 325", then something would happen to whatever was passing into the island's space. problems with the helicopter, kind of makes sense here. which was why faraday said to follow the coordinate they came into, if not, dead helicopter.
3-26-2008 @ 2:44PM
dt3 said...
I dont know if you have ever been in a jet plane cockpit before but those windows really arent that big. You combine the small windows with it being the middle of the night in a horrible storm and it makes perfect sense they wouldnt be able to see the island
3-26-2008 @ 2:28PM
dt3 said...
i have yet to get to the actual website but your description of it definitely hasnt won me over.
"1. It's possible to travel back in time. When you do travel in time, your physical body stays the same, but you "replace" the old version of yourself. So, if I were to travel back to 1994, I'd be the hairy, droopy 2008 version of myself in appearance, but I'd be the young, spry version of myself in action."
What is said here has already been proven false. When Desmond "flashed back" to his military days on the helicopter he wasnt the aged, bearded desmond we know now, he was desmond the british cadet.
Its a swiss cheese theory at best (tastes good at first, has alot of holes, the longer it is left out the worse it becomes)
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