The Swan as a waystation, the numbers as an address
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By fastolfe
- The Swan as a waystation, the numbers as an address
- Created: Jun 18, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 13, 2008
- After episode: 3.8: Flashes Before Your Eyes
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
Two things have bugged me about the numbers and the hatch:
- Why would they engrave the numbers near the Swan’s exit hatch?
- Why require the sequence of numbers to “push the button”?
There are a number of theories on the site suggesting alternate realities and the like. While I don’t subscribe to any of those theories, a possible explanation for these two oddities could be interesting for those that do.
You wouldn’t engrave numbers unless they would be useful. Those that don’t know what the numbers mean aren’t going to find their presence on the hatch to be very useful. Those that do know what the numbers mean almost certainly have the numbers memorized.
Further, there must be a reason for entering the same sequence of numbers into the computer. I’ve read some of the theories behind why humans are needed for this process at all. I don’t buy into the explanation that automation would be susceptible to the same magnetic issues at the core of the Swan, because the entire mechanism here is automated and computerized already. Humans are only needed to provide input to a software/hardware process.
We also know that they’re doing research on the island for this Valenzetti equation. There’s also a lot of agreement (upon what, I’m not sure) that the numbers are tied to that equation.
What if this research exploited this natural magnetic anomaly to study alternate realities? Could the Swan be controlling a “doorway” between realities? If these alternate realities respected the same Valenzetti equation, but with different coefficients (the numbers), this would give DHARMA lots of insight into how our own reality might fare down the line. This gives the numbers a natural tie into our reality and “explains” why they have such power here (though not very scientifically; most Lost phenomena would seem to presuppose a “higher power”).
But it also explains why they might want the numbers engraved at the hatch: to identify the reality to which this hatch belongs. Someone coming up from a disaster from within the station might like to be reassured of what reality they’re in.
The radio tower, in its original capacity, simply broadcast the numbers over and over again. If similar towers were set up in other realities, it could be a useful way to quickly check to see what reality you were in if you were on assignment. If the numbers “changed”, that wasn’t so much a sign that the conditions here had changed, but that you had been moved somewhere else (presumably someplace with a more pleasant out come).
This “doorway” at the Swan would be controlled by computer, and to open the doorway to another reality, the automation might allow you to simply “dial” the Valenzetti address of the reality you wanted to visit.
After “the incident”, it was discovered that keeping the doorway closed/unconnected/connected to wherever it’s connected by default is bad or dangerous. Perhaps the “real” hostiles are from one of these alternate realities, and discovered a way to enter our reality through this doorway. One way to solve that (non-permanently) would be to barricade the hallway and dial our own address every 108 minutes. In the event of a breakdown for that workaround, the failsafe would make the doorway go away (either by destroying the station, or perhaps just sending the station itself through the doorway somehow).
The island itself might be a form of nexus: a constant among the realities (a la Dark Tower). The events and ruins we see on the island could be influenced by other (maybe nearby) realities.
Key locations
| Theme | Relevant Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|
| The Swan station | 2.20, 2.23, 2.14, 2.17, 2.1, 2.2, 1.11, 3.3, 3.8 | 462 |
I think you might be onto something here. In my own theories I’ve questioned why the numbers were on the outside of the hatch and speculated the obvious, that the numbers must designate the hatch somehow. My thought was that the work of the station must have had some relevance to the particular Valenzetti solution that the numbers represented, and the numbers were broadcast to let someone somewhere know that the station was still functioning. The reason humans were involved was because the station was meant to fail at some point in the future due to human error/manipulation. See my post, “Regarding ‘the numbers’ and the Swan Station” if you’re interested. I think you’ll see we’re both heading in similar directions. But you do enter territory I didn’t and I think you might be onto something. Not sure what, but something. :-)
fast: good read. I theorize the reason humans are needed to push the button may be the fact that they need to periodically enter/exit the station to cause some other event to happen. If the process were automated, that would not be possible. Therefor, I conclude remote control is not possible.
I also think this is remarkably convincing. It clears up a lot of questions I had in my head, particularly regarding the Hostiles not aging vs. Ben’s aging, why there are absolutely EVERYwhere in the show. I think the final explanation will have to include something like this to make it convincing and believable…well done!
That said, what about Smokey? Can it be explained through this doorway theory?? Also, what role did Desmond and Kelvin play in all this? If the Swan was truly the portal, then wouldn’t Richard, etc, be a little worried that it was blown up, or at least know a great deal about the station? Wouldn’t Kelvin have been working with the Others? Finally, would this portal be the only entrance to the island? If so, how did the Losties get there, and why are people always seen arriving and leaving on the sub?
I thought each hatch is allocated its number by reference to the type of experiment being conducted within it. The allocated number corresponds with that number from the valenzetti equation result and the experiment corresponds with the particular aspect of that equation which produces the number and which is therefore being worked on. But then I’m sure that Juliette said that the Looking Glass was “one of” the underwater stations, indicating more than one. So i suppose there must be more than six stations.
Very interesting post and comments! The last time we saw the swan station, after imploding, it was a big hole~Right? I like the idea of the station going through the “door”…this makes sense.
So is it fair to say that Jacob could be someone from a failed alternate reality who has been having Ben bring people to The Island in an attemp to perfect just 1 reality?
boom. brain explosion
ProfZone, sorry I missed your other post. I spent a few evenings looking through some of the posts on the site (I’m fairly new here) but there’s an awful lot of content. :)
eternalqueen, one of the perks (or annoyances, depending on how you look at it) of an alternate reality theory is that all sorts of weird stuff could be normal in these alternate realities, and if any of that was brought into our reality (either intentionally or not), we could have all sorts of really strange things going on, such as carnivorous smoke monsters that make metal noises. I’ve never read a single theory about Smokey that I’ve bought into, nor can I fathom one myself. If Jacob is a ghost, Smokey could be something equally improbable. Evil spirits. Maybe the ghost of a machine/AI. I can’t be any help here, sorry. :)
LouisWu, I like the suggestion that the numbers could simply be a tag for that station. Maybe each station has its own tag independent from its name/logo engraved in useful places. Swan’s tag was simply the Valenzetti numbers. Seems logical if unnecessarily redundant (and I’d prefer logical if redundant to a theory that presupposes alternate realities any day). The statement that the Looking Glass was only “one of” the underwater stations could be explained by including the Hydra, which had an underwater component.
The idea that the station didn’t merely explode/implode also suggests there was a reason those inside the station weren’t killed by the event. (Though I’m not entirely sure an explanation unique to the Swan’s destruction is necessary, since we’ve had all sorts of things happen with improbably high survival rates, like the original plane crash. Desmond’s experience could be attributed to that “already known” phenomenon or Something Else specific to the Swan as discussed in this theory.)
That is just an excellent point. The four toed statue. Again, why would humans go through all the trouble and time to make a huge statue that only had four toes. Smokey, absolutely no way of making sense of what it is, and why it sounds like chains and machinery or the way it can touch people, destroy trees with absolute force and somehow create a flash of light when looking at Juliet. And of course crazy Jacob who we don’t know anything about. Just that he is invisible one moment, visible the next. Threw Ben into the wall without getting out of his seat, and talked to John without Ben knowing. These are obviously only a few but in my eyes the largest enigmas of the island. If time travel is the answer for all the enigmas of the island, when in history did humans have 4 toes, how many trillions of years in the future until we see a smoke….thing be able to pick up people. What I’m saying is, if these aren’t alternate realities, the writers are going to have to explain something that makes sense of all this. I don’t see how they ever will.
if they put in different numbers into the computer, could that change the course outcome and stuff?
If the computer’s primary purpose was simply to “dial the gate”, it stands to reason that a different combination of numbers would have an effect other than “bzzt, try again.” It could be that most combinations of numbers, though, don’t indicate a reality to which the doorway can connect (“bzzt, invalid address, try again.”), so they’d have to be lucky or persistent to get an “interesting” outcome.
Yeah, since the numbers add up to 108, they should’ve tried inputing 6 other numbers that add to 108 as well. They’d probably end up on the Event Horizon