A “best guess” as of 3.10
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By ProfOzone
- A “best guess” as of 3.10
- Created: Mar 1, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 3.9: Stranger in a Strange Land
- Status: Current
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This theory is based on B. F. Skinner and Carl Jung by ProfOzone. You may wish to read it before continuing.
They are, as it were, rats in a maze constructed by the powers that be and destiny, and they won’t eagerly navigate that maze without the proper motivation.
— ProfOzone
Researchers of paranormal psychology in the 70s came to understand the true nature of time; that in truth the past and future are encoded into the present moment. Not only does this fact facilitate psychic events, but it allows researchers to create mathematical models that can predict the future. Researchers developed such a model 30 years ago and, to their horror, the end of humanity was revealed to be not so distant. As behavioral psychologists, their natural inclination was to find out how they could use their scientific tools and the paranormal forces they’d harnessed to steer future events away from such a dark fate. All of this, it seems to me, is the bedrock of the show.
Human genetics seems to play a role in the events that lead to the end of humanity. In particular, the emergence of people who exhibit unique abilities appears to be a key issue. Of all abilities a subject of paranormal psychology might have, the abilities to see or, even more importantly, make the future are the most critical of all.
The future-predicting models could sometimes reveal the enormous influence of specific individuals upon humanity’s future, and it makes sense that at least some of these individuals would be the “new humans” with extraordinary abilities. These individuals needed to be identified, found, analyzed, and their behaviors needed to be properly steered. Of course, they could not know that their behavior was being steered. If they were to know the precise details of their destiny, they might over-think it and mess it up, or even choose to reject it. Too much knowledge on the parts of the “key subjects” would make them much more unpredictable, but absolute predictability was called for if humanity would be saved.
For so many key subjects to be on one flight was not an accident. Their presence together on the flight was a combination of the subtle manipulation by the “powers that be” and the fate of the world playing itself out. When the plane finally crashed on the island, it was a signal that apocalyptic events were about to commence, and the list of key subjects had been narrowed down to a new list of “key players”. The clueless saviors of the world had been revealed.
So now the powers that be (among whom are counted the Others, but there might be other factions) are trying to get as many people with “make it happen” powers together in one place… a place that might naturally amplify and/or focus their abilities… so that they can collectively will into existence the “right” future.
(Note that all of this has led not only to the abduction of younger or more impressionable subjects, but also to attempts to “grow” new subjects via genetic manipulation.)
An important point here: the key players cannot do what they are required to do until they WANT to do it. They are, as it were, rats in a maze constructed by the powers that be and destiny, and they won’t eagerly navigate that maze without the proper motivation. It’s that motivation that the powers that be need to very carefully create in each key player.
And this, to me, explains how events on the show have transpired so far.
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| Playing gods | ProfOzone | 5 | 1 | +1 |
All sounds good to me. I’ve been tossing around similar ideas in my head, but never could collect them coherently for a theory.
Google “The Secret”. Some of the ideas advocated by these people might be at work in Lost also, in which case what is going on isn’t particularly paranormal, but it is pushing the bounds of accepted physics.
just trying to put this together with my recent post, Prof—do you think the Skinnerian manipulation might in fact turn out be an error on the parts of the PTB (handlers? fate-benders?). I guess what I was thinking about was the way in which manipulation wound up creating a power-struggle/hierarchy. But maybe if the the con is successful it wouldn’t do that—it would create cooperation.
jaz: are you saying that free will is a giant risk being taken by the PTB?
Prof: for the experiments to work, is it necessary for the rats to do what is desired, or the making up their mind the desired outcome - regardless of what they choose to do?
If I read you properly, then this is exactly the modus operandi of Ben. He is a master of manipulating someone to take a certain action - usually by lobbying for the opposite. What a strategy of irony.
jaz: I think the struggle is what was desired on the part of Jack… because Jack is in particular susceptible to that kind of thing. We all have our strings, and as long as those strings are known, they can be played with an amazing amount of predictability, especially when we are placed in extreme situations… like trying to survive on an uncharted island.
Stip: You read me properly. :-)
Stip, I’m not sure I would describe it as a “risk” so much as a necessity—I think as you were saying (and as prof is saying) it’s just as much about them wanting a particular outcome as it is about the outcome itself.
I’m wondering about the idea again of two groups of fate-benders, and maybe two centers of synchronicity (Jack & Locke?).
I’ve been thinking for some time that ultimately it will be revealed that two groups are vying for control here. But I suppose that’s actually been obvious since John showed Walt the backgammon pieces.