LOST on Earth's Mirror Matter Moon

Please know that a more current version of this theory can be found on the main page of this blog: mirrormattermoon.blogspot.com

or, Through the Looking-Glass Via Theoretical Physics — Not in Portland... In Starboardland

Some physicists have argued that a complete universe needs to have two sides — two sides that exist in parallel but are normally invisible (or dark or black) to each other — two sides where the matter operates in the same way, but where stars and planets formed in different patterns. The two sides are different according to "mirror reflection symmetry," where, basically, left and right are reversed on the very small scale of particle physics. Our side (Portland) has "left-handed" particle interactions, and the other side (Starboardland) has "right-handed" particle interactions. In the words of Locke in Episode 1: "... Two sides... One is light... One is dark." Note which hand each stone is in.

This outlandish theory proposes that the island is on a tiny moon on the "other side" — a world "on the other side of Earth," as the producers suggested recently. Because the moon was trapped by Earth's gravitational field when Earth was forming, it continues to orbit the gravitational center of Earth (which is invisible and can be passed through without much friction). Days are shorter because it rotates faster than Earth, it's invisible because it literally is, the smoke monster shows what happens when our world and the island world interact with each other, the island is literally all there is except for the surrounding ocean, and Benjamin Linus is supposed to be on the right-handed moon because Benjamin means "son of the right hand" and Linus was a son of Apollo. John Locke is the savior of this little world. Note the cross formed by his right eye and the cut he received when he arrived on the island.

So that's it, really. The super-short version is: It's a show about dark matter, that trendy science stuff you saw on the Discovery Channel. Of course, that's not quite right. Below is the geeked-out, super-expanded, way-too-much-information version. (Hardcore fans like me need specific answers to everything.) It's not what would be shared directly with the audience. On the actual show, I think we just need two elements to be explained: (1) the idea of mirror matter or dark matter and (2) a visual like what's above. [Auf Deutsch? Hier — Vielen Dank, simutiger!]
Carlton Cuse: ... from Marvelo815: "So I was thinking… Does the island move? How does Eko's short range plane … go from Africa to somewhere near Australia? Maybe the island is forever moving..."
Damon Lindelof: I think that's a fascinating thought. And I couldn't possibly answer that question 'cause if we were to reveal something so ginormous as the fact that the island was moving … they would fire us instantly. And also, it would be much cooler if we would reveal something like that in the show. [from the LOST Podcast, Nov. 6, 2006; Thanks to Soother17 for finding this gem]

A key element of this theory is that the island can move (certainly in space, at least). The model currently on this page might still work as written. But I think it can now be simplified and updated to better match the show. I'll update it when the evidence dictates (thankfully, I think it could be greatly shortened in the process). But, the gist would probably be that the island (the moon) is "anchored," very near or at sea level. Could it be released, only to drift and be re-anchored near Tunisia? In the meantime, you might find the Kerr metric fascinating. Regardless of the explanation for the show, I continue to think the apparent arrangement of wormholes (the bearing nonsense) is inspired by that type of space-time anomaly. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. Cheers and happy reading — Mike



Cheat Sheet. I don't want to leave anything out, so I continue to add details (usually points of circumstantial evidence) as they arise and as the show continues. So this is long and will only continue to lengthen. Here is the connective tissue and some key elements.

Light vs. Dark sets up:
  • Moral ambiguity — light and dark, good and evil depend on which side you're on
  • An epic, abstract tension between opposites that must coexist — matter vs. mirror matter, good vs. evil, fire vs. water, yin vs. yang, black vs. white in chess or backgammon
  • Character development — "We are interested in exploring how good and evil can be embodied in the same characters and the struggles we all have to overcome the dark parts of our souls"
  • Each side is the other's spirit realm — ghosts can appear on the side opposite their death; Psychics on Earth can view, project, summon, possess, etc. on the island. Look at the shoes: Dead on light side (Earth) = appear on island with white shoes; Dead on dark side (island) = appear on Earth with black shoes. Also notice that we're only shown apparitions in Jacob's cabin from the left side (4 times so far). [this needs to be revised a bit]
Mirror Symmetry sets up:
  • Symmetry in the narrative — flashbacks give way to flash-forwards at the halfway point
  • Memory flipping direction (remembering the future)
  • Many deliberate references to left-right reversals and the inclusion of mirrors and mirroring
  • A fundamental connection to Bad Twin
An orbiting moon of mirror-matter solves the geo-spatial problems:
  • Why it's so very hard to find
  • How Yemi's plane could crash on the island
  • Flight 815's crash near Fiji
  • The brief aurora astralus near Bali
  • Why Egyptians have an old history on the island
  • How the Black Rock could end up in the middle of the island
  • The changing shape and behavior of the smoke monster
  • Traveling around in circles
Mirror Matter explains really bizarre elements and comments:
  • The giant foot (after Foot, who is on Earth) — thus, the single white shoe in the first scene and the symbolic use of shoes
  • The obsession with Lewis Carroll references
  • Damon's comment that the show would end "just outside the Crab Nebula"
  • Why Ana Lucia's shirt switched from white to black
  • "The Looking Glass station controls communications between one world—the world of the island—and the mainland."

Dark = Black = Island = Right = Mirror Matter (~Dark Matter)

Light = White = Earth = Left = Our Matter



If you just read that, you'll miss the finer points. For those, keep reading.



Mirror Matter

Mirror matter (aka shadow matter or Alice matter, after Lewis Carroll's works) is a hypothetical form of matter that is not antimatter, though it may account for what we call "dark matter." While mirror stars and planets have been proposed, we would hardly be aware of their existence without the aid of careful measurements. The key is that "our" matter and mirror matter don't interact all that much, which allows mirror matter to exist in an almost parallel universe, and mirror matter is invisible to the eye (unless the eye is composed of mirror matter).

According to Australian physicist R. Foot, "Mirror matter... would be completely invisible to us! If you had a rock made of mirror matter on your hand, it would simply fall through your hand and then through the Earth, and it would end up oscillating about Earth's centre."

The particle interactions of mirror matter are "right-handed," whereas the particle interactions of our matter are "left-handed." So the two types of matter don't talk too much, save for a couple of exceptions, the most interesting of which allows the electromagnetic force to be felt across the "worlds" through the sharing of photons. Gravity, however, transcends the two opposing forms of matter, and so gravitational fields are shared across the two "worlds."

This theory is hard-science-inspired, but it's absolutely science fiction. The book of theoretical physics from which I've borrowed (and butchered) this info can be found here. That book seems to be the key source of info for the show. A review article covering the real, un-doctored physics can be found here.

The Moon

The idea is that the inhabitable moon — a small planet if you're more comfortable — has only ocean, the island, and the little island with the Hydra station. That's it. Juliet: "So they have a boat — sailing in circles will keep them busy." A moon also gives a reason for the Apollo Bars made of dark chocolate.

The small size — where the island is able to cover several time zones on the moon — means daylight will last longer or shorter than normal if you cross time zones while you walk across the island. It also — with some wild speculation — allows for a region that is dark for half of the year, just like the areas on Earth near the poles. What time it is depends on what time zone you're in.

More importantly, the moon is always in motion, oscillating about Earth's center, in an elliptical orbit. As the moon reaches the extremes of the elliptical orbit it slows dramatically and nearly breaks above sea level. From the perspective of the those on the island, it's not exactly clear that the moon is orbiting anything, as the surrounding body of Earth is invisible. Nothing weird like streaking stars would occur because the motion is absolutely miniscule compared to the distance to the stars.

The sun in the sky? It would be Nemesis or another mirror matter star at roughly the same location as our sun. In fact, there's a video by Speaker (a LOST insider) that features a dark sun.

An initial guess at the time for one rotation of the moon is 23 Earth hours. That means that for every 24 days on the island, 23 days pass on Earth. If you leave the island and spend 23 days on Earth, 24 instead of 23 Island days will have passed when you return; you would have lost one day. In one year ~365 days pass on Earth and 381 days pass on the island. That's 16 extra days per year in the island calendar.

The march of time is identical — time is synchronized. According to the rules of our show, a communication between sat phones is not affected by temporal distortion, but if you were to send a radio broadcast and/or a telegraph message, it would be affected by temporal distortion. [from the producers in an interview in Popular Mechanics] That tells us that there is minimal, if any, difference in the "present" on and off the island. The difference between the events learned over the sat phone are probably no more than a 48 hours off from the events described over morse code. It seems the time distortion is due to something that happens when you cross between worlds. Perhaps a better argument is that it was learned eventually over the sat phone that the helicopter arrived. If island present were somehow shifted, it could never catch-up with the helicopters arrival. Island time could be jiggling a bit, but there's nothing in science to hang that idea on, making it a hard sell.

That reversed yin-yang thing is Iapetus, a weird moon of Saturn with a light and dark region. Interestingly, there's speculation that it's the best candidate for a mirror matter body in our solar system (the visible exterior would be a coating over the mirror matter interior). The moon proposed here would look more like a tiny Earth.

Magnetic Fields and the Moon's Core

A moon capable of supporting life would need a lot of things going for it, including an outer core of molten rock to sustain electric currents and provide a protective magnetosphere. The electromagnetic fields of the moon would necessarily be different from those on Earth.

It's long been thought in pseudo-science circles that magnetic fields have healing powers (remember the guy Isaac that Rose visited in Australia?). The field might also explain the birth problems. For example, fetuses might develop too fast for the womb to manage, making the the fetus more and more unrecognizable to the mother's body.

It is the core that also supplies the ingredient missing from Foot's book (it's missing, no doubt, because it would be science fiction): The unique EM activity generated by the core is necessary to allow matter to switch to mirror matter and vice-versa. Thus, the island acts as bridge between the "light side" and "dark side" of the universe.

Aurora australus is mentioned in Foot's book in a section entitled "Are mirror worlds opaque?" The details aren't perfect, but the idea would be that the atmosphere of the moon (which might contain a tiny amount of normal matter) can sometimes spawn a brief, low-altitude aurora as the moon passes near the ocean's surface (and the moon's magnetosphere crosses into our atmosphere). An very brief aurora australus was seen over the Sunda trench in the online game preceding Season 4.

DHARMA Initiative

DHARk MAtter Initiative? And the true center of the Dharma logos? The yin-yang, perhaps the most universally known symbol of opposing, yet complementary, light (yang) and dark (yin) elements.

On a different world you have different physical constants. DHARMA's mission was two-fold: Ensure the moon has long-term habitability (tweak weather patterns, adjust the ecosystem with predators, exploit the geothermal activity for a sustainable power source, etc.); and, try to address the Valenzetti equation on a world with different constants.

The Namaste gesture symbolizes a peaceful meeting of the left and right hands. However, as Ben said, "one side had to go."

Entry and Exit from the Moon — Updated to Little Wormholes

Historically, wormholes are thought to let you pass into a mirror universe. The ideas are not really the same, but the evidence seems to be converging on wormholes. The island has a natural Casimir effect, which is probably sci-fi shorthand for "expect wormholes between the island and Earth to be a central part of the story." Plus, Lewis Carroll used an early version of the concept when devising his "looking glass" world.

I'm not thinking of big swirling tubes, but rather small windows, which the chopper could have passed through when it passed through the storm cloud. In the process, matter flips to mirror matter or vice-versa. There might also be certain locations in the EM field (or would it be the Casimir field?) of the moon that are most likely to spontaneously open such windows.

Getting on the island would be a matter of being near it when it passes by you — the right location and timing. A wormhole could form briefly like a net and shift you to the moon (hopefully not 2,000 feet above the water). There wouldn't be much shifting in space here, but rather just shifting from one "side" to the other.

What there seems to be, however, is a bit of temporal messiness. Perhaps the mouths of the wormholes can be dragged around a bit before collapsing, allowing for a bit of random time shifting when you enter or leave the moon. Clearly, whatever is happening, Daniel is struggling to understand it.

To get off the moon, the idea would be that you wait for alignment, and then pick the correct trajectory so that you make it through a wormhole and end up, say, right-side up in the air if you're in a helicopter.

It's like a spacecraft entering the Earth's atmosphere. If you enter the atmosphere at too steep an angle, you'll burn up; if you enter it [at] too shallow an angle you'll bounce off and back into space. And I think that that analogy is a good one for how you have to get on or off the island. [from the producers]

It seems DHARMA figured out how to exploit the Casimir effect to better control the formation of wormholes. I'm not sure if Ben waited for his position on the moon to be aligned with a spot right above the desert, or he was able to dial-in coordinates in space and/or time. I like the first idea because it forces Ben to re-use the same remote locations, instead of zapping himself directly to a preferred location. The Orchid could be used to get off the island. You might be out of luck in getting back so easily.

Perhaps Adam and Eve are Penny and Desmond, finally reunited, only to find themselves in the past and dying at the time of their conception on Earth.

The Orbit (ver. 1.1)

One key assumption of the initial guess at an orbit is that the moon must intersect the coordinates in the Sunda trench given in the online game and a possible flight path from Sydney to LA. An orbital period (one loop) of 4.8 hours does just that. (96 min would work as well, but 4.8 hrs uses the numbers.)

Note: An actual, simplified calculation (that is, one we might expect the writers to use, had they wanted to) puts the time between locations on Earth at 42.23 minutes. That's pretty nifty. For now we'll stick with 144 minutes, as a 4.8 hour period works well enough. It makes a great fall-back, however, should the orbit need more flexibility.

Note 2: Adding precession to the orbit might let the moon reach more latitudes, making the orbit both more realistic and able to reach, say, the Sahara near Tunisia and Ayers Rock in Australia. We'll see how the show goes with the teleportation business. A pit stop by the moon would make an otherwise un-special part of the desert important. But misrepresenting gravity already gives me a headache. So I'll keep the orbit as simple as possible for now.

[Thanks to lostmio for pointing out the flash animation on oceanicflight815.com; the glow in the screenshot nicely captures the atmosphere of the moon, which would pass above sea level on Earth as the moon reaches each end of the ellipse]

The overall story here is that the moon has been "collecting" people, when their location and the natural fluctuations of the moon and Earth are just right, for a very long time. The people collected throughout history who have survived constitute the Others. We'll see that two of the locations fall on land, in Africa, one in Ethiopia at the southeast outskirts of the old Egyptian Empire, and one in Mozambique.


Locations on Earth that the Moon Slowly Glides By Every 144 Minutes

If the speed of the moon's movement is sinusoidal, it should be nearly stationary at each of these points for roughly less than 4 minutes (based on some quick computations).


1. Fiji "Crash" Site 175°46'49.31" W, 11°10'42.24" S

Flight 815 shifts to the moon — and disappears, with its instruments failing — six hours in at about 10:55 pm at this location. That corresponds to 3:16 pm (or 15:16; thanks ufgatorphil) Swan/Island time. Then it flies around for about an hour (The Pilot thinks: 500 miles in the reverse direction = 1,000 miles off course at 500 mph) and gets pulled to the island by the Swan at 4:16 pm Swan time. By having the plane shift to the moon when the instruments failed, we can explain the daylight outside the plane prior to the crash.

This spot falls on a direct flight path from Sydney to LA. Even if this theory is completely wrong, it blows my mind that the Sunda coordinates point to a location exactly 72° due west of a spot that intersects the flight path.

... after "picking up" Flight 815 at about 3:16 pm, the moon then swings toward the other side of the earth, but meanwhile, the earth rotates 36° counter-clockwise... and 2 hours and 24 minutes later (at 5:40 pm) the moon slows and reaches the other extreme of the ellipse in...

2. Atlantic North 31°46'49.31" W, 11°10'42.24" N

About 1,000 miles off the coast of Africa. This could serve as the spot the moon "picked-up" the beechcraft with Yemi aboard. If they flew east or southeast, then the spots in Ethiopia or Mozambique are the best candidates.

3.
Sunda Trench 112°14'10.69" E, 11°10'42.24" S — from 112.2363 and -11.1784 from the online game (converted from the decimal notation)

The brief aurora astralus was seen about here. Presumably the Black Rock sank here or at the Fiji location, shifting to the moon on its way down, and "landing" in the jungle.

4. Hydrothermal Vents 103°46'49.32" W, 11°10'42.24" N

Falls exactly on known hydrothermal vents on an oceanic ridge. More on this below. It's also a good candidate for the supply drops. Note the location on Naomi's phone. Near Fiji? No.

5. Mozambique
40°14'10.69" E, 11°10'42.24" S

LOCKE: "Slaves... this ship must have been en route to a mining colony... probably set off from Mozambique." This may have been (or still be) a secondary "seed" location (after Ethiopia) for the Others.

6. North of Crash 175°46'49.31" W, 11°10'42.24" N

This and the Fiji Crash site are at nearly the same longitude as Howland Island, the destination of Earhart and Noonan when they disappeared. If they did end up on the island, they would have switched over at one of the two locations.

7. Off Brazil Coast
31°46'49.31" W, 11°10'42.24" S

8. Off Vietnam Coast
112°14'10.69" E, 11°10'42.24" N

9. Americas South
103°46'49.32" W, 11°10'42.24" S

Based on the tectonic activity in this general area and the calculation that the surface of the island was upside down at the time, this is the most likely source for the monster that grabbed the pilot on Day 2, and the monster that broke through the ground and took pictures of Eko on Day 50.

10. Ethiopia
40°14'10.69" E, 11°10'42.24" N

This is on the outskirts of the old Egyptian Empire. A pleasant surprise prediction of the model is that the island would have been nearly right-side up here (a quarter of a mile underground) about the time Eko was killed. If anything approximates the form of the monster that killed him, I think it was an excavator. (Picture below.)

This spot offers a place that could have been "used" in the past by Egyptians. People on the outskirts of the Egyptian empire—at a sacrificial alter or tomb, for example—could have been "grabbed" the moon. Caves would allow you to reduce a potential 1,000-foot free-fall once you've shifted to the moon. (I doubt they had parachutes.) Likewise, an entry point that precisely aligns with one of the highest points on the island would reduce the potential fall.

The hieroglyphs in the Swan would then honor the earliest inhabitants of the island. Not only is the underworld sacred in Egyptian mythology, but also clearly represents where the island is with respect to the Earth.

... Then back to the Fiji site 2.4 hours later...


The Timeline (ver. 1.1)

We assume the island rotates about its axis in 23 Earth hours. [This came about after Beir noticed a discrepancy between the day count and the iteration count for the radio broadcast.]

We can estimate relative orientations between the island and the surface of the Earth based on a 3:16 pm shift time and the time 815 presumably shifted at the Fiji location.

We assume the closest the surface of the island gets to sea level is 0.2 miles (sea level to sea level). This keeps it below the reach of sunlight penetrating our oceans.
  • Day and Time refer to days and times on the moon. Because the days only last 23 hours, the "clock" starts at 12:30 am and ends at 11:30 pm. (11:30:59 –> 12:30:00 am)
  • Orientation refers to the orientation of the island (the Swan in particular) relative to the ground on Earth. 0-90 and 270-360 mean the island is upright but tilted, potentially up to 90°. 91-269 mean the island is upside down. 180 means it is exactly upside down.
  • Depth can be approximated because we're estimating the diameter of the island to be 3.8 miles. If the island is near 0 or 360°, it's also at its highest point — 0.2 miles beneath the surface. If the island is near 180°, it's upside down and at its lowest point — 4 miles down, which is often at or near the floor of the ocean.
The timeline only shows what happens every 144 minutes, when the moon slows near the ends of the elliptical orbit and gets within 0.2 miles of the surface of Earth (sea level). The rest of the time it is gliding through Earth beneath its crust.


The model says the start of Christmas Day should coincide with the evening of Day 98 (not Day 95, as a 24-hour-day timeline would predict).


The temporal symmetry that seems apparent in the show. [Thanks to HearingVoices and jane_eris for throwing out very similar ideas.]

Some evidence that the end of Season 3/Start of Season 4 is a turning/reversal point:
  • The flash-forwards suggest the high point of the characters' lives was before the call to the freighter — it's certainly going downhill. Is it all downhill from here?
  • Flash-forwards began replacing flash-backs at the very end of Season 3
  • Forward is the name of the guy who introduced the term 'mirror matter'
  • Finale of Season 3 was titled, "Through the Looking Glass"
  • Premier of Season 4: Hurley crashed into a set of mirrors (seriously?!)
  • One definition of Kahana, the freighter, is 'turning point'
  • Premier of Season 4 was titled, "The Beginning of the End," suggesting Seasons 4-6 really are the second half of the story

Smoke Monster

No, it's not really a smoke monster. Instead, mirror matter theory offers an explanation.

Foot proposes a way for the two types of matter to interact... "kinetic mixing" via the exchange of photons:

"If there is a photon-mirror photon transition force, then now an ordinary electron can actually interact with a mirror electron. ... The net effect of the transition force is to make mirror electrons interact slightly with ordinary electrons."

Let's spin this to imply that light (photons) will facilitate interaction between matter and mirror matter. This will be strongest when photons in our world are present (and overlapping with) the photons present on the island. But the moon is deep within the earth—rarely even approaching its surface.

What would produce light at that depth in the ocean (or underground in Africa)?

Answer: Bioluminescent sea creatures, mining equipment in African mines, and subs and little robots like the ones Naomi mentioned.

The point: The smoke is light from our world "kinetically mixing" with photons on the island. The smoke always takes the shape of clouds of light: faded at the edges and often drifting — just like what happens when a current pushes ocean debris through the light emitted from subs and deep sea robots.

This predicts the smoke should:
  • Always approximate the shape of light from a realistic source in the ocean or in a mine.
  • Only ever appear for about 2 minutes (so far this is true), as the moon needs to be brushing one of those locations (within reach of a light source) for this to work.
  • Only appear at some multiple of 144 minutes since the last time it appeared.
  • Be able to appear in multiple spots simultaneously if there are multiple light sources.
  • Respect the orientation and depth of the island.

Let's look at the position and orientation of the island at some moments when the smoke monster has appeared (this stuff and the remaining incidents are noted in the timeline above).
  • The timeline says about the time the pilot was yanked out of the cockpit, the island was exactly upside down at the bottom of the ocean at the Americas South location. Deep sea subs routinely go on scientific missions to the ocean floor in this region of the ocean and they all have hydraulic arms at their bow that could grab the pilot. So the arm grabs the pilot and then drops him when the moon moves away from the area (taking the ability to interact with the island with it).
  • Day 50, before noon. Eko is photographed while Charlie is in the tree. The island happens to be in exactly the same position as it was when the pilot was grabbed. So it makes sense that submersibles might show up again. Because the island is upside-down, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) would be launched from the bow of a sub and then descend, breaking through the ground of the island.

  • Eko's death on Day 72. The timeline says at 11:52 am the island was nearly upright (12°) and briefly overlapping with Earth 0.24 miles below ground in Ethiopia. So here's the best guess for what killed Eko: an excavator-like mining machine with lighting in the cabin and strung throughout its arm. The operator sees a ghostly person, flips out, and attacks it.
  • Juliet and Kate photographed in the jungle. This happened sometime at night between Day 82 and 83. Here the monster POV beautifully captured the view through the camera at the front of an ROV — it zoomed down, took photos with a strobe, and then pulled back using reverse thrusters. Unlike before, where the smoke popped up, here it glided down, suggesting the sub was nearly upright. The model says the island was 26° from upright at 1:16 am on the morning of Day 83 at the Fiji site. So it makes the most sense to attribute the visit to a sub and ROV near Fiji.
  • Smoke at the sonar fence on the morning of Day 83. Here it wasn't a submersible, but the light emitted from the tentacles of an agitated giant squid near the hydrothermal vents.

Some ROV and Squid "Footage"
These are all wrong in many respects (wrong type, wrong depth, wrong speed, wrong lighting; fake squid), but I thought it would be fun to include some videos. Hopefully, you can imagine at least some overlap with the monster experiences on the show.



The smoke monster(s) Ben "summoned" from within the Egyptian room?

If you're not too schooled in deep sea marine life and assume things basically get bigger as you go deeper, you might imagine that they were giant eels, or giant Thermarces cerberae. The "snatch and withdraw" behavior when the mercenary was grabbed somewhat mimicked that of a feeding eel. If you make the eels electric, then that might explain the electrical discharges.

I'm on the fence between this possibility (which depends on the writers' knowledge of deep sea life) and the alternative explanation at the bottom of this page: The monster is a life-form that evolved on the moon and obeys the mirror theme. Specifically, it observes and mimics, incorporating new shapes and behaviors into an ever-expanding repertoire.


Thermarces cerberus (aka zoarcid fish, aka eelpout) is a fish that lives around hydrothermal vents. [Thanks to poster janin for finding this.] The Cerberus Vents are presumably hydrothermal vents at the Hydrothermal Vents location. Amazingly, that location happens to sit exactly on top of actual hydrothermal vents (at 11°N in the picture) that are visited by subs (potentially every few weeks, based on the timeline). What better locations on the island to map and avoid?
 

In the Philadelphia Experiment, in a nutshell, generators usually used to discharge the magnetic field that built-up on metal ships were cranked way up, and the ship and crew shifted through "hyperpace" to a different place and time for a period of time before shifting back.

Take the Swan and Desmond. The magnetism in the Swan needed to be periodically discharged. Only a brave soul would turn the key, however, because it could (and did) result in a discharge powerful enough to send anyone very close on a temporary Philadelphia Experiment-like trip through hyperspace. Now we know that it was just his consciousness and was a prelude to him being unstuck like Ms. Hawking.

When the Swan released the enormous burst of photons, the electromagnetic force interactions between the worlds jumped momentarily.

Psychics Fooling Around on the Other Side

The big picture is that we have two worlds, with each world acting as a "spirit realm" for the other. People can be "psychic" or "special" because they are attuned to electromagnetic fields and can access the moon because of its extraordinary field. This may sound out there, but realize that we have evidence of "psychic activities."

"Wet Walt" is Walt presumably projecting himself from underwater in our world to the island. Notice how Wet Walt and "older Walt" (who appeared before Locke) wear white shoes. The crashing birds are likely a result of Walt changing the EM field around himself. (Many migratory birds rely on EM fields for geomagnetic navigation.)

Jacob is probably doing the same thing. Notice how we only see the left eye of people in Jacob's cabin. That might suggest he's projecting from our left-handed world to the island. [Thanks to jcarlson34 for some related thoughts]

Jacob is dressed like a guy from at least 100+ years ago. So let's assume he is a guy from 100+ years ago projecting from somewhere in our world. In fact, I like to think Jacob is Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, the mathematics god who gave us Jacobian matrices. Being in the past but able to communicate with Ben in the future could permit Jacob to take actions that affect the present. For example, he could set in motion events that remove the source of Rachel's cancer, curing her by preventing her from developing it in the first place. What else other than magic could Juliet trust would work? Jacob could also set in motion events that steer certain people that Ben has vetted to the island. Jacob would be scared of light and/or EM fields because they facilitate interaction between his world and the island, and allow the situation to become frightening and slip out of his control.

Note that Jacob sat in a wooden chair at a table, and "is a man who summons you," according to Ben. Who else fits that description? Richard Malkin, the psychic in Australia. In fact, it's a stereotype of people who exercise psychic powers.

So we have Jacob projecting, summoning the dead, and manipulating island dwellers by speaking through their dead relatives for the sake of what? A utopia? An ark of sorts?

Richard Malkin, and his daughter, could be related to Jacob or else merely special. I have no doubt that when he told Claire she mustn't allow her baby to be "raised by another," he really said "raised by an Other," but we were biased to interpret it the first way. Malkin was presumably practicing "remote viewing" of the island when he did the "reading" for Claire and saw a "sort of a blurry thing." His daughter was presumably able to communicate with Yemi's spirit because she has a gift like her father and was visiting the island, which, again, would serve as the spirit realm for Yemi (assuming he died before his plane crossed-over).

Whispers of Migrating Souls and Ghosts Doing Stuff in Respective Spirit Realms — needs revising

Bodies buried on the wrong side seem to be at unrest...

The shoes seem to give the side of death away. Ben's mom, Jack's dad, etc., wear white shoes (they died on the light side); whereas Charlie (so far) wears black shoes (he died on the dark side).

Self-Reflection as a Principle Form of Character Development

Producer Carlton Cuse: We are interested in exploring how good and evil can be embodied in the same characters and the struggles we all have to overcome the dark parts of our souls.

It's as though the island forces you to look at your true self in the mirror. [Thanks to poster HearingVoices for communicating this with elegant clarity.] The characters are forced to confront their inner demons. Examples: Hurley and his food, hallucinations, and belief he is cursed; Jack and his failure to be a great man by the standards of his father; Sawyer dealing with "Sawyer;" Boone acknowledging his love for Shannon; Desmond and Charlie and their sense of worthlessness; etc.

Locke interestingly, gave up his left kidney, and then had it murdered by Sawyer. Later on, this "left side" sacrifice saved him.

As noted above, version 1.1 of the timeline also suggests that the flash-forwards started when Day 90 was reached off-island, and therefore also suggests the show will end when 180 days (or 180°, for a complete reversal) are reached.

Further Evidence for Mirror Matter

If you're a fan of the show, you've surely seen a billion references to mirrors, reversals, inversions, and Alice in Wonderland (mirror matter is also known as Alice matter, in reference to Lewis Carroll's works)...
  • The gigantic foot (after R. Foot)
  • The Looking Glass — the idea obviously being that you typically enter this world of Alice matter through the Looking Glass station
  • The black and white stones
  • Charlie crosses with the opposite (and wrong) hand before dying
  • Backward speech
  • Rabbits, chess games, episodes entitled "White Rabbit" and "Through the Looking Glass"
  • The city reflection in the Season 4 posters
  • Ana Lucia's shirt is white before the crash (when presumably on the "light side") and mysteriously changes to black after the crash (when presumably on the "dark side") [Thanks to jane_eris and others for catching this]
  • There's that single white shoe in the opening scene. Sounds silly, but could it be a "light" shoe for the left (light) foot? (Andyo_uk also makes a decent argument for an unusual obsession with shoes in the show. He has a couple of lists in the comments.)
  • Hurley crashes into a collection of mirrors in the opening of the 3rd season.
  • Part of the summary of "Valis" from Philip K. Dick's site: "an ancient, mechanical intelligence orbiting Earth..." It's a central reveal in the book. More here.
  • [more coming]
Beyond the Show Proper:
  • In a broadcast by DJ Dan, there was a taped interview with a student working on a project, apparently for the Widmore Corporation (likely responsible for the people on the freighter):
  • Interviewer: "So, uh, then what are the possible applications of this research?
  • Student: "Pretty much, we were asked to simulate an electromagnetic pulse strong enough to knock a space-borne body out of its recurring orbit."
  • Interviewer: "Uh, space-borne body. Like what, exactly?"
  • Student: "Like the moon."
  • [Transcript courtesy of Lostpedia]
  • So it might be fair to assume the primary objective might be to destroy the island... or, to correct its orbit after the EMP from the failsafe in the Swan knocked it out of its orbit
  • In an ABC interview, Damon Lindelof said:
  • "Somewhere just outside the Crab Nebula is where it will all end, geographically."
  • Take a look at the cover of Foot's book on mirror matter. The title and Foot's name are just outside the Crab Nebula. ;-)
  • "Bad Twin," the book by Gary Troupe in the Lost Experience includes two twin brothers who are identical except for their handedness (regular handedness, but also the direction in which their hair curls, etc.). Matter and mirror matter are identical except for their handedness (left-handed corresponding to "our" matter, right-handed to mirror matter). [Thanks to poster Konstantin for bringing this nearly perfect Easter Egg to my attention.]
  • The Whitman poem in the online game leading up to Season 4 is poem # 180 in "Leaves of Grass."
  • The Compass logo for the Maxwell Group has left and right (East and West) reversed. Reversals of left and right along a mid-line are arguably the allusions most specific to mirror reflection symmetry in the show.
  • Svalbard? The only connection to Svalbard in recent memory is "His Dark Materials" [Thanks to tdciago for pointing this out]


Further Evidence:
  • The constellations have been edited. For example, the Big Dipper has had two stars removed. What better way to suggest that constellations are mirror matter constellations and not our own. [Credit to poster jane_eris and others] And, while Carl and Alex could make up names for the constellations, it's more compelling to make up names when the constellations really need to be named.
  • The species are different, as noted by Arzt. Sure, the EM field might contribute to this; but whenever someone speculates about mirror matter worlds they mention how the species would be different.
  • Mikhail has only one eye. Here's part of R. Foot's description of Miros, a fictitious mirror matter world:
  • "Miros is a planet made of mirror matter — atoms composed of mirror electrons and mirror protons and mirror neutrons. Miros is somewhat different from Earth though. It's a bit smaller with deeper oceans, but there is life on Miros. The people of Miros are a bit strange, they have very large feet and only have one eye ... Thus, Miros isn't much like Earth which just illustrates that microscopic symmetry of particle interactions does not translate into a macroscopic symmetry."
  • The "Hatch Painting" in the Swan depicted: (1) 2 figures of opposite polarity (a normal Penny and inverted Desmond?), (2) A collection of right-side-up stick figures above the waves and upside-down figures below the waves, (3) a trajectory that corkscrews to the right (like a diagram for a right-handed, mirror matter particle) apparently representing Des' path as he fell from the boat, (4) houses beneath the waves, (5) prominent celestial bodies.
  • Boone — not a philosopher, but the BooNE experiment(s) at Fermilab regarding dark matter
  • Chapter 1, page 1 of Foot's book features a quote from Hawking's "A Brief History of Time."
  • [more coming]

Wrap-Up

LOST begins with an opening right eye. [Thanks to blacklodge for pointing this out]

Will it end with an opening left eye back on Earth or a closing right eye when the island is destroyed?

Or absolutely neither? After all, this is just a proposal. It could be 100% wrong. Even though it is inspired by theoretical science and pseudo-science (mirror matter and a mind–electromagnetism connection), some elements (like gravity) are clearly not depicted in a way that would fit with this. The initial estimate of the size, for another example, seems ridiculously small. I could fill another tome with violations of physics necessary to pull this off. Then again, there's a cabin that jumps around the island... It's a sci-fi TV show. And that implies the inclusion of magic and also a unique form of constraints (which this theory might or might not violate). Lost exists in another reality. It's a judgment call as to how different that reality can be.

I'd love your feedback, positive or negative, specific or general.

I owe a great debt to posters on The Fuselage and DarkUFO, who have, at the minimum, given these ideas some resonance and offered amazing and intelligent feedback.

Thanks for reading. I spend a little free time here and there tweaking this. You might want to check back to see how the theory thrives or dies as the show continues.

Mike


P.S. — I can't help but recommend an excellent and different theory based on mirror matter by Big Mouth.

P.P.S. — "Because he's in space.

As in outer space. As in orbit. As in one of a handful of human beings who have the unique distinction of not being on the fucking planet."

~ no doubt irrelevant. But how could I not quote this from Damon's recent essay?





Negative Season 4 Information waiting to be integrated, reconciled, etc.

With time, assuming the theory isn't killed beforehand, I'll integrate this with what's above.

  • I don't get a distinct impression that when you leave the island matters. The arrival on the freighter at mid-day worked, but again, that isn't a closed case. If we knew exactly where the freighter is, or we get another example of entry or exit, that would be huge.
  • The 23-hour island day assumption might lop off too much time. There are some discrepancies that need to be worked out, however, before I'll bother to try a smaller deviation from 24-hours.
  • The island control (or is it course-correction?) that seems apparent in Michael's inability to kill himself. It seems that the escapees will need to return to the island to either die or else be zapped to the plane in the trench (yes, that would assume the captain and Others are lying about the wreckage to manipulate the escapees). This is a negative because a causal paradox might need to be introduced to explain why Michael can't (yet) die. Complication = bad. The alternative is that the presumed light vs. dark war is occurring not just in the realm of the normal physical world but also in a psychic realm of operation.

Smoke Monster Alternative — a Life-form that Mirrors

This is the other explanation that fits hand-in-glove with the theory. I raise it only because the producers recently said in a podcast that Yemi and the spider that killed Nikki (WTF?, come on...) can be attributed to the monster. If we take them at their word, ignore their laughter, and assume that the monster is a narrowly defined entity (as opposed to something more like a concept), then the comment seems to necessitate a more flexible definition of the monster.

It's a life-form that evolved on the moon and is intimately connected with the electromagnetic energy found in the moon's core. It answers the question "If we have this other world as old as Earth, and all of the humans are from Earth, wouldn't we have some other evolved life-form(s) beyond just the different insects?"
  • The monster is not particularly intelligent according to our conception of intelligence. It does not seem to have a particular agenda or understanding of human motivation or behavior. It's more like a simple animal intelligence.
  • It (or they) are especially tuned to sensing magnetic fields (because it evolved on the moon).
  • It can only manifest as a doppleganger of what it has experienced (a play on the mirror theme).
This still requires that the moon is underwater at least part of the time, and that kinetic mixing still occurs in the way described above. But the strength of the interaction is so low that it merely allows for an electromagnetic signature (in the shape of the smoke, invisible to human eyes) to cross between the worlds. Outside objects can't interact with the moon, but the monster (unlike us) can see their signatures as they kinetically mix with the moon's matter.
  • The monster takes the form of—and attempts to mimic the movements of—objects and people on the island.
  • Because it can detect EM fields (signatures), the monster can take the form of the signatures that it senses from objects interacting with the moon.
  • For example:
  • It sees the signature and behavior of an ROV. Later on it takes the shape of the signature (cloud-like) and mimics its scanning and photographing behaviors.
  • It sees the signature of a squid (the fields around the illuminated tentacles) and later takes on the form and movement of those fields.
  • Whether it can "get inside and animate" matter is an open question.


Is everyone on the island from planet Earth?

. . . Yes. That may be one of the best Lost questions we've ever been asked.


[from an interview with Jimmy Kimmel]

Damon Lindelof: If an island is defined by land mass surrounded by water, they are on an island. Carlton Cuse: Right. That's good. DL: Right. CC: Yeah, I don't think we should say anything more that that. DL: Yes, that's how that's... CC: That's right. DL: This is about definitive answers. We have defined the term 'island'. We have confirmed that they are in fact on one. CC: And it's surrounded by water. DL: It is. CC: But everything beyond that is kind of up for grabs.
[from the producers; thanks to Mark and Lostpedia]

What's great about those worlds [Narnia, Oz, and Wonderland] is they're all worlds on the other side of Earth. That is to say they're not fantasy realms like in Star Wars. Narnia is actually connected to the world that we know and so is Oz, as is Wonderland... as is our island.

[from the producers]

Malkin, the psychic: Every day I meet people lookin' for a miracle, desperate to find one. But there are none to be had.

Not in this world, anyway.


Possible depictions of parity transformation (matter to mirror matter and vice-versa) on Dan's blackboard.

The idea is that, mythologically, the island is the underworld, it is the looking-glass world, it is the spirit realm, it is Hell, it is the Dark Side, it is the Other Side, it is humanity's chance at rebirth, it is the destination of mariners and aircraft that disappear... but it's really just a chunk of mirror matter. [Jim — how's that? lol]

PLEASE NOTE: This is a new blog post. The previous one, with all of your wonderful comments, is here.

136 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you so much for being such an amazing mind going so deep into all this...

you know, life may well be like that chess game ending with us all being put in the box, kings, queens and pawns alike, but shit, it is so good to have fun while the game is on. i see you are a champion!

XX

Anonymous said...

One thing I wonder about which I may have missed an explanation for, is how this all may relate to the pregnancy/fraternity problem on the island. It seems, any child conceived on the island causes the mother to die (and maybe child as well?). Could this be that if the mother is of one world (ie left hand) but their child is conceived on the other world (ie right hand), these two bodies cannot exsist together (ie occupy the same space)? Just a random thought.

Anonymous said...

MikeNY, I echo the sentiments of previous posters — I greatly admire the way you think and am appreciative of the time it took for you to share your theory and make it accessible to those of us not well-versed in physics (theoretical or otherwise), quantum mechanics, astronomy and the rest. I will have an even greater investment in the show as I try to incorporate (or disprove, as the case may be) these ideas in the mythology of the story as it plays out in future episodes. Thank you.

Regarding the pregnancy issue, it does seem that if the mother is of one world, but the child is conceived in the other world of the island, there is a cellular mismatch of some sort between mother and child. In "The Other Woman," Juliet explains to Ben that the mother's immune system is triggered, resulting in the mother and baby's death.

This may be similar to real-world rh-factor incompatibility (positive vs negative) that can result in fetal death during pregnancy. Since a women is born with her lifetime supply of eggs, but a man is constantly producing new sperm, it would make sense that the otherworldliness nature of the island causes the sperm to be altered or to carry some "foreign" material that, while not interfering with conception, does cause an incompatibility issue for the mother and "hybrid" fetus later in the pregnancy.

However, a child conceived off the island can be born live on the island, as evidenced by Claire's successful delivery of Aaron. What is yet unknown is whether Aaron possesses some special qualities by virtue of simply being born in the other world of the island. (Kinda' like a baby born in the U.S. of foreign-citizen parents. The parents remain citizens of their native country, but the child is immediately a citizen of the U.S. I realize this is a human-created law, rather than a natural law, but I include it for illustrative reasons.)

And regarding the identities of the Oceanic 6, it seems somewhat unlikely that Ben would be one of them, since he was not a passenger of Flight 815 and he says that the freighter was sent by Charles Widmore, someone who would do Ben harm. We know from flash forwards that he leaves the island, but more probably by some other means. Considering the celebrity/notoriety that the Oceanic 6 enjoy after their rescue — which Ben certainly would have anticipated — it doesn't seem likely Ben would want to have that sort of attention paid to himself. Thus far, he's proven himself to be a megalomaniac of another type.

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say that I really liked your theory, and I'm sure you spent a lot of time on it. It makes a lot of sense to me. However much of your data seems to be based off assumptions. And I don't agree totally with your theory, but I do think your on to something. I wouldn't be surprised if the show turns out to be similar to your theories.

I also have a question: If this mirror matter moon actually exists, and were as small as you say it is, how do you account for the fact that the people on the island aren't walking around with less gravity pulling on them?

MikeNY said...

denise-louise —

Thanks :)


Anonymous —

I like your thinking!

The approach I would take is probably more mundane... Perhaps being in the magnetic field either at conception or beforehand is what matters. If the fetus can start developing outside of the field, you would be OK.

I think your explanation is more satisfying on a conceptual level, however.


Jacquie —

Thanks.

Your thoughts seem roughly along the same lines as the poster above. So my response would be partly the same.

My assumption is that "switching over" lets all biological processes occur in the same way. It's the EM field that screws things up.

I wonder if a reason to get back to the island is bring Aaron back. Maybe he is special because he's the last
"hybrid" child in the way you've suggested?

I'm quite sure Ben isn't part of the 6, as he wasn't a passenger, like you mention. He's more a secret arch-good-guy or bad-guy.


Anonymous —

Thanks.

Yes! It is based on assumptions, many of which are impossible. Gravity is perhaps the best example. So, perhaps in that regard, the theory is a waste of time. (No, seriously!)

The question is: Where do you draw the line?

Is travel of consciousness (time or space) OK? (it's impossible)

Are disembodied whispers OK? (they're impossible)

Is a smoke cloud with a consciousness OK? (impossible)

Variable time-travel by passing through an EM field? (impossible, AFAIK)

Projection of your body? (impossible)

Projection of a cabin? (impossible)

Mid-air break-up and several survivors? (nearly impossible)

Animated corpses/talking ghosts? (impossible)


I think you get my point. There is no completely (or even remotely) plausible explanation of the show. If we want to exact serious rigor, then no theory holds. Certain violations of reality have to be selectively ignored.

It's a matter of personal taste.

Thanks. I appreciate it.


Mike

Anonymous said...

Another tidbit that adds more credence to your theory. In the "Constant", Daniel Farady is working on a chalkboard that relates to many differing aspects of quantam physics. Most notable is the Kerr Metric Theory (indeed, in the "cap" version of Lost, the writers point out that this theory may explain the possibilty of time travel). Without getting into a full discourse of the theory, Kerr Metric relates to black holes. The structure of a black hole is akin to a layered onion. The outside layer is the conjunction of matter and antimatter where objects travel at the speed of the light. The most centered layer is the "Singularity" where mirror matter can theoretically take place.
Also, given the relative influx of prominent physicits that have ties to the field of quantam physics (Faraday, Hawkings, etc..) what do you think of the possibility that the "smoke monster" is Tesla's eye projection experiment?

Anonymous said...

Hey that is some amazing stuff thanks for taking the time to write this. Two things you may want to check out if havn't already, go to wiki type in mirror matter, about 3/4 way down the page with a link called 'dama'. Click on that and it could be a clue as to what the 'Dharma' were doing on the island. Another thing you mentioned something called the cerberus system. Have a look on the map in episode 'lockdown' where it says something like 'last known acivity of the cerberus system. Just couple things i've picked up you may already have them if not enjoy and thanks again!!!

Anonymous said...

obviously! i think everyone was already thinking this.... duh!

Anonymous said...

you may want to take a look at "the third policeman." desmond is seen reading this book and the creators have mentioned it in podcasts. interestingly, the author grew up and went to school in Blackrock, Ireland. What else has lost borrow from this book?

Anonymous said...

mikeny-
Some flotsom from Ji Yeon that are keeping your theory afloat: Freighter Doc contradicts Freighter Captain about whether ship is moving (If the Island is moving then the freighter position is or isn't changing depending on from where they take their bearings); Regina jumping overboard with weights gave me a chill as I could only hope they would show her descending into the mirror island, and reading book upside down was sorta mirror worldish. I checked the mirror in the opening scene with Sun and could find no clues or potential easter eggs.

Mirror Disciple

Anonymous said...

Way cool MikeNY

I think I have been trying to relate this same idea without the science!! lol.

Do you think volcanoes have anything to do with the cerberus venting?

Also, does that mean that there is a layer of water between the mirror moon and our side of the earth?

Anonymous said...

Wow. I like your theory. What I still don't get is where the source of light comes from. Is that explicable?

Anonymous said...

Mike,
more evidence...

mandrake wig's myspace page has photos that point to your theory. like theres a picture of a painted moon..and his caption says somethin like traveling alone. there is also an upside down statue. even his name is a clue. there's also a lot in there about reincarnation- i wonder how that will play out... anyway ck it out.

Anonymous said...

Love all this stuff. Thank you for giving me/us even a potential glimpse at what the show is all about. I'm an English teacher and know so little about physics, or any other science for that matter. But the story - both the producers' and the one you interweave/interpret alongside theirs - brilliant stuff.

Anyway, two random thoughts:

1) What about leap years?

2) In the S4 Episode on Thurs. March 13 (the last one aired as I write this), the woman from the freighter was acting very oddly - at one point reading her book upside down (hmm). Then, she dons the chain necklace and takes the plunge. Dead? Perhaps. But what if indeed there is a small layer of water that connects the mirror with the ocean where the freighter is? Will we soon see her wash up on a beach on the island? (and btw, is that the same woman who was with the Others at the end of S1? The one who torched Michael/Jin/Sawyer/Walt's boat? -and who I think was later shot on the beach by Juliet? She certainly bore a resemblance - I don't know, I've only watched these shows once each, it's hard to keep it all straight).

Finally, your blog mentioned a location in Egypt (I think). Anyway, if that is a location that ties into all of this (in terms of the elliptical orbit of the moon, and where it comes closest to our world), then might it be the site at which Penelope was seen digging earlier this year, where she found a polar bear skeleton and an object with a Dhamra symbol on it? Like most of us, I'm sure to be overthinking this all too much.

Again, thanks for the research and for bringing some seriously challenging material to a level where your reader can start to think he/she 'gets it'. Keep up the great work - I, for one, would love to hear more.
~s

Anonymous said...

Mike,

The most well known testing for Dark Matter was done in Italy about 10 years ago and was named DAMA-NAL. The "NA" stood for sodium.

Now, they have updated the tests and use Rhodium because of it's electrical properties. The new test is called DAMA-RH

or jumbled....DHARMA

MikeNY said...

Anonymous —

Thanks. Faraday's stuff intrigues me. The Kerr-related expressions made me think of black hole theories of the show. Then again, Daniel was probably working on time-travel based on magnetic fields, so I'm not sure how much his work would predict that a black hole is the "answer" to Lost.

I think Tesla's stuff is great direction for trying to figure out the show.


Anonymous (2) —

Thanks. Yeah, DAMA is cool; though detecting dark matter would be moot if you're on a mirror matter (which might be interpreted as dark matter) body.

The lockdown map is actually what inspired the Cerberus Vent part of above. Thanks gain.


Toby —

:)


Anonymous (3) —

Thanks. The Third Policeman seems like it was definitely on the summer reading list of the writing staff. I never knew about Blackrock, Ireland. That's great, and could by itself explain the ship's name.


Mirror Disciple —

Thanks. I actually missed that line. But have heard of it since. I like your interpretation.

If Regina popped up on the island, that would blow my mind... though I'm not holding my breath (ahahahah).

Definitely maybe on the book.

The lima beans phaseolus lunatus would probably be a serious stretch.

Thanks again.


Anonymous (4) —

Thanks. I think a different and potentially great explanation for the vents is that they were the release sites of the gas used in the purge.

I'm slightly confused re your question... but, I think, yes, in that the part of the moon with the island never seems to get above the water on Earth... Does that help? :)


Anonymous (5) —

Thanks.

The light would come from a mirror matter star about where our sun is. (In fact, all of the stars that are seen from the island would be mirror matter stars.)


Anonymous (6) —

Thanks. "Half-moon" and the upside-down statue in Melbourne definitely caught my attention. Thanks for the mentioning this!


s —

Thank you. I assure you I probably don't know too much more about physics.

1. Leap years? Im curious. How so?

2. Yeah, that would be something if the woman wound up on the island. It sure seems like a long-shot though... I'd guess that it's not the same woman, but you could very well be on to something.

That spot in Tunisia... It's too far from the locations in the initial model above. I think instead that — whatever the answer to Lost — there's something special regarding natural electromagnetism that links that spot to the island (and perhaps other special spots on Earth). In fact, the writers have recently almost said as much.

Thanks again. When knew info (good or bad) comes to light, I'll update this page (at some point).


Anonymous (7) —

Very cool! Do you know if that Rhodium substitution started before the show took off? If so, it would make a great anagram, as you describe.


Mike

H E Pennypacker said...

Can I just say - I love this whole theory - it blew my mind. I stumbled on it reading The Bastard Machine on Friday and have been thinking about it ever since. If it turns out to be even 1/10th of the way true then this will be the most incredible sci fi twist in the history of television. Especially considering Lost is such a mainstream show, it really is a mind-expanding premise you've cooked up here.

I do have one minor quibble I cannot reconcile. You say that the days are shorter on the island/moon but time is in synch, however, from what I've observed it seems like time is slower on the island/moon than in the real world. There's no way in the space of 90 days (island time) that the wreckage could have been found and a team assembled to locate the island so quickly - especially given some of the people. The pilot seems all washed up, like he's been stuck in a bottle for a few years, not just months.

Now we know Michael is on the frieghter - how did he go from leaving the island to seek rescue to working his way onto the freighter crew in the space of a month.

Certain things point to time moving quicker in the real world than on the island, whereas other things seem to suggest off island is slower as in your theory (the day long delay for jack to contact Sayid on the freighter is definitely suggestive of this!)

Whatever the case the relationship between the island/moon and the real world is definitely whacky.

Your theory is the only theory I've read that explains the smoke monster without resorting to hokeyness.

Also the gravity/smaller celestial body does not bother me so much because it could just be made of more dense material - especially considering the volatile electromagnetic properties.

I truly hope they give some more insight into the Orchid station - that video doing the rounds with the clone (??) rabbit is trippy.

Chalk this up as my favourite theory on the show and the one that seems to be most consistently supported by the show thus far, again extreme kudos brother!

Anonymous said...

An interesting development in "Ji Yeon" that may give your awesome theory a little boost. You mention as a "negative" that it doesn't seem to matter when you leave the island. But in the most recent episode, Keamy reminds Frank "Don't be late." for whatever excursion they have planned. Assuming they are returning to the island, this could be a solid indication that when they cross over is important.

Keep it up, brutha!

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

What if the plane shifted into the future and by the time Desmond turned the key the moon was overlapping the trench. Then a mirror duplicate made of "earth matter" is left in the sunda trench and the plane of mirror matter breaks up like we saw in the moon's atmosphere.

If that's not clear, I mean the pulse duplicated the plane. What seemed like 1 or 2 hours was really more time kind of like the heli. 72 degrees is 4.8 hours?

Todd

MikeNY said...

H E Pennypacker —

Thanks!

I don't know if you caught the online game prior to this season. It seemed as though Widmore planted the wreckage and then orchestrated its discovery (after all, it was close to 5,000 miles west of where it should have been). Hence the seemingly quick bottom-of-the-ocean discovery. I think the story is that the EMP was detected, coordinates estimated and the freighter dispatched posthaste.

BUT, it does indeed seem odd that Michael would leave on a boat and appear on the freighter within a week or two. Michael could have been brought to Fiji and then hired, on the spot, in Fiji, as a janitor before the Kahana leaves port.

I don't mind time dilation at all. In fact, I really dig the idea that island could be a mildly pinched region of space-time (no mirror matter involved).

But, we've got (a) variable shifts in time upon entry and exit, (b) apparently real-time comm between the phones. My current guess is that it's passage through the EM "reef" that causes the time shift, rather than a real island/earth time differential. The jury still out, of course. :)


The gravity/density thing must be sacrificed for the theory to be viable IMO. Sure, there are supposedly strange tides; but mimicking the gravity of Earth would require very consequential interactions with Earth's mass.

Perhaps the best they could do would be to say the moon causes tectonic activity and whirlpools (maelstroms) when it passes?


It's really fun to have all of this on the line with the airing of each episode.

Thanks again.



superzen —

Thanks! I missed that bit. Actually, it didn't occur to me that that's what he could've meant. Makes good sense. We'll see. :)


Todd —

I love that idea. If we find a ring on the pilot's other hand (more symbolic than anything), I think you've nailed the explanation of the wreckage with regard to this particular theory. Awesome idea!


Mike

Kamama said...

Love this theory! What about a "dead cat" theory? In one universe, Jin lives; in another, he dies?

Anonymous said...

Hi, Mike - love your theory. I've been reading over the past few months it as it morphs with your updates. I noticed that you removed your reference to Faraday's experiment with the "payload" and how it was delayed by a certain number of minutes. I wondered if this was intentional or if you could explain agin how that time differential might fit into your theory. Thanks for your efforts and explanations, I find your theory really fascinating.

MikeNY said...

Kamama —

Yeah :) I've wondered about that sort of idea for a while. Actually, my first idea about Lost was that there were two worlds that were opposite in every way, including life and death... so you'd have to die to come to the island, or die on the island to leave.

I think the leaving chopper blows that rather abstract idea out of the water. I'm keeping my hopes up, though, for something closer to what you suggest.


Anonymous —

Thanks. Still uncertain about the temporal shifting. The shifting seems based on trajectory, and might be somewhat random. Imagine just an island in the south pacific (due east of Fiji) and 815 jumping forward about 16 hours instead of the shorter time the rocket jumped. That could explain the daylight-at-the-crash-issue.

Anyway, I've moved outstanding issues like that one to the bottom of the page. It's currently in the positive group (merely because a wacky EM field was already part of the theory).

There are some great alternative thoughts on the old space-time anomaly idea floating around. One based on a "Kerr black hole" sounds pretty cool to me. There's some great stuff on the Fuselage by HearingVoices and others on the topic.


Mike

H E Pennypacker said...

Mike

I've thought about it some more today and yes - Certainly Widmore could've had a freighter in the vicinity for sometime. As it has been shown in The Constant that he has been motivated to find the island for quite some time.

Michael's absence may be explained in "Meet Kevin Johnson" we won't get to see it or "Ji Yeon" until April (TV is non-ratings here in Australia during the two weeks surrounding Easter).

Everything else so far backs up your theory perfectly, Faraday seems to know the most about what's going on there. He's the only one who notices a difference in the light (a reference to a different sun perhaps) and it strikes me now that his experiment with the missile was part opportunistic, he saw that it was a particular time of day and decided it would be the most opportune time to do the experiment.

Think about this for a second - if he had chosen the wrong time of day to do this, the island/moon may have been facing the other way so to speak and the payload may have just landed in the moon's ocean.

There was something about the way he just dropped everything to do this experiment which fits with the island being an orbiting object (the same way space missions have to wait for 'windows' to enter orbit!

Anonymous said...

Definitely have to say thank you for the theories.. I just took the time to read the whole page and it's encouraging to think that they would bring something of such an intelligent magnitude to the general public.

I can only hope that even if not your theory, there is something of significant value to explain things in this little tale. Aside from the great suspense and other story elements, if they take some time towards the end to explain the science in it, they will satisfy every geek ( including myself ) that has anxiously awaited a new episode.

Thanks again!!

- Adam

Anonymous said...

One thing that I thought might be of some note ( I'm only thinking this way now because of you guys thanks alot!! haha ) I'm rewatching the episode "solitary" in which Rousseau say something along the lines of her people getting "sick" and it was only a matter of time... well I was thinking, sure, they used the gas and what not, but I don't think that was what she was talking about.

With the recent episodes of Desmond and Faraday, a plus the other boat people seeming to be affected by the time displacement, could she be talking of this kind of sickness? Telling Sayid that he should "watch his people" wouldn't indicate anything of a gassing nature.

ALSO, I was thinking, and this is far fetched but hey, they all are... what if all the events of lost, the flashbacks, the flash forwards and the present, really all take place at the same time? The time jumps that Desmond and Faraday are experiencing hint towards something of this nature. I mean it in the way that no one else has had a flashback or forward that they seemed to consciously notice was going on right? But I think if it started to happen to more people, without the assistance of going through to the other world, it might help that theory. I can see the possibility of every event that has happened or will happen coming down to a single event...

Just food for thought.

- Adam

MikeNY said...

H E —

I like your reasoning. Dan indeed seemed concerned about the time of the experiment and Regina seemed completely prepared, as though she were following a schedule.

I get to watch the episode tomorrow. If there's relevant info, you can be sure it will pop-up here (or certainly elsewhere) very quickly.

Michael and Walt shifting back in time would be very cool, but I hope they actually show them leaving the island.

* If they do time travel, they should pass through an EM wall like the chopper.

* If they make it out on the boat, I'll need to revisit the position of the island on the moon and perhaps the main premise.

I hope the episode has some real teeth.



Adam —

Thanks. Obviously being a geek myself, I also hope the show is explained by some cool "science."

In fact, it will be, as the producers have basically confirmed that repeatedly.

Will it be based on one central premise (like this monstrosity or a space-time anomaly) or will it be a collection of "smaller" but equally cool ideas like teleportation and "mind-travel"?

They're heading to something they obviously think is really clever. So I can't wait.


I think you're probably right on the money with the sickness. Serious radiation exposure plus passage through the island's "exterior wall" => sickness. In fact, I think that's the current thinking of a lot people (who also obsess about this stuff).

Your last idea makes me think of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Though maybe that's quite where you're going... Either way, something like what you describe would be the sort of cool ending that might satisfy all of the geeks in the show's audience.


Mike

Anonymous said...

I think this idea is fantastic and by far the most fought out i have read, However and this is a big however there is on gaping hole in this theory, that being Gravitiy haha i very much doubt the writers of the show would igonore the laws of gravity. Given they have gone out there way to reference and honour great phycitians in the show. I have read through your theory several times an can not come up with why (if this theory being correct) would remaing constant between the island and earth.

That said it a far better theory than i could conjure up and makes you reind me of Stephen Hawkings as he has all ways had a problem with gravity in his theory of everythink. haha

MikeNY said...

rsandell2002 —

Thanks.

The moon would need to be quite dense for this to work, and I definitely think that stretches realism (as does much of theory if you look at it from a technical perspective).

The show and these theories force you to swallow several huge and bitter pills when it comes to realism. I guess it's a matter of which ones you want to swallow.


Can you clarify that question about 'constant between island and Earth'?


Mike

Anonymous said...

F@#$ me

This is mind-blowing. and by mind-blowing I mean how all of the pieces fit, and they aren't forced, they just fit.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on writing the only explanation for the smoke monster that I've seen that has a semblance of science behind it.

Usually people just give it a purpose and the purpose does not bear out when you examine its actual behavior. The behavior is inconsistent or at odds with the assigned purpose.

This works. And frankly, despite how strange it sounds at first glance, it works damn well.

Actually I don't think it can be anything else. anything else is just disconnected hocus pocus and wishful thinking. This is tight, very tight.

Romy said...

Wow-- I was just reading through the old posts and found something cool. My sincere apologies if someone else has already pointed this out.

MikeNY, in your comment on 2/13/08, you mention that Miles Straume's name probably comes from the word "maelstrom." It's a great word, and his character intrigues me (and pisses me off), so I figured I'd check out the origin of the word on Wikipedia. Comes from a Nordic word that came from a Dutch word, but our English word was coined by Edgar Allen Poe in his story "A Descent into the Maelstrom." And this is what the Wiki on that story says: “It is couched as a story within a story, a tale told at the summit of a mountain climb. The story is told by an old man who reveals that he only appears old - "You suppose me a very old man," he says, "but I am not. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves." Um, wow. Black and white—old but young?? You can check out the rest here-- it's pretty cool: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Descent_into_the_Maelstrom

The Wiki also mentions that a major theme of the story is ratiocination, or the process of logical reasoning. When I went to the Wiki page for "reason," I found this sentence (among many others): "David Hume, following John Locke (and Berkeley), who followed Hobbes, emphasized the importance of associative thinking."
Which really means nothing, except that Locke, Desmond Hume, and Miles are all linked in that they have certain psychic abilities.

The maelstrom, a physical force which sucks things into its depths and sometimes spits them out in different places or transports them, is what allows us to move between the worlds of logic (physical reality) and fantasy (the psychic world), or the left-hand and right-hand worlds. It’s all connected, and those who show psychic ability I believe will be those who are best equipped to comprehend the impact of mirror matter (when it is all revealed to be about mirror matter, of course!).

Sorry if this all painfully old news and obvious—I just thought it was cool that everywhere I looked all roads lead back to Lost and Mirror Matter. : )

Daryl said...

I'd have to put in with Anonymous (above): Besides being the tightest and most self-consistent theory I've seen yet it's the only one that comes close to explaining the Smoke Monster behavior we've seen.

If Smokey is an island security mechanism, it isn't very good (it only appears on an ad hoc basis and doesn't really seem to target threats). If Smokey is a Michael Crichton "Prey"-type swarm composed of nanobots it isn't very strategic or purposeful in behavior.

But if Smokey is a mirror-moon rendition of a real-world object of some sort that can only exist at certain mirror-moon orbital positions, it explains both the seemingly random appearances and lack of obvious tactical or strategic purpose behind its behavior...

Excellent work on a terrific theory. I'm looking forward to reading more posts here after watching the 3/20 "Meet Kevin Johnson" episode.

Anonymous said...

holy crap my head just exploded....

J.B. Love said...

Damn, Romy. Very impressive. That is exactly why I keep coming back to this site every week.
And thanks to you again, Mike.

MikeNY said...

Anonymous (1) —

Thanks for the invite, but I'll pass. But seriously, thanks.


Anonymous (2) —

Thanks. Ironically, I've added an alternative explanation. The behaviors still match-up, but the monster has a more flexible description.


Romy —

Thanks! Great stuff! The producers actually said they wanted a name that sounded like maelstrom... That illustration is terrifying.

I think a maelstrom might also play as a reference to wormholes. The classical visual impressions are pretty close.


Daryl —

Thanks. :) Check out the alternative monster explanation (IMO, still fits pretty tightly with the theory) that I've just included. It's a sort of a simple-minded mirroring life-form that can, in part, sense and mimic the EM fields associated with those "alien" objects.


metalman777 —

:-) Sorry.


J.B. Love —

Thanks. Any thoughts on the new monster bit? (The delivery could use some revising.)


Mike

Unknown said...

Wow Mike! Khloe, my friend (and biggest LOST fan I know), just sent me your blog link with the warning that it may make my head explode. Well, I just read every word and now I'm wiping brain matter off of all the tax forms that I SHOULD'VE been working on!

I am curious about growth issues on the island? Is anyone getting older? Does hair even grow? I'm especially thinking of Jack's permanent stubble...

Keep up the good mind-blowing work! And thanks for the link Khloe!

Dec

Anonymous said...

So do we actually think that the producers are making a ridiculously elaborate red herring, or can we discredit this theory once and for all?

MikeNY said...

Dec —

Thanks.

I think people age, though the process might be slowed. I'm sure the hair grows just fine.



BigLostFan —

Cranky as you sound, I think we're close to the same page. I'm pretty sick of this thing. The problem is that it continues to be viable (relative to other explanations).

I doubt the clues (Foot, Apollo bars, Bad Twin, Crab Nebula comment, Ba Gua, Light/Dark, etc.) are there for the sake of establishing a red herring. Mirror matter is an obscure concept and so it would be pretty pointless misdirection.

Instead, this theory might inadvertently create a red herring for those who subscribe to it.

Whatever the answer, the producers have clearly suggested that the island exists in another realm that is somehow accessible from Earth. Somehow, a grand war between light and dark, and destiny, play a part.



Mike

Anonymous said...

I think you're on to something but if your right, which I think you are then I'll be pissed that I'm watching a show about matter. I mean I kind of hope you're wrong just because I would hate LOST forever and be sooo pissed that I wasted this many nights watching it when I could have been watching ESPN or Family Guy. You know? With that said I think you got it and I know you did a lot of research, but I hope you're wrong.

J.B. Love said...

Hi Mike,

Did you catch Damon's comment on the last podcast? "That would mean you were orbiting the atmosphere." That's a close paraphrase, and it's oblique, but it's interesting how he brings up orbiting again. And note his inflection when he says it. (Someone more OCD than me should backtrack and count the orbital/extraplanetary references.)

Not sure about the new monster theory. I like the sea-life angle. Lots of biolumuniscent beasties down in the depths, and who knows how their unique light-producing abilities enables photon-mirror photon mixing? And 'it' (they?) certainly moves as if it's 'swimming'...

In fact, this idea of light interacting with water interacting with mirror-light brings up a lot of possibilities. I specifically think of Daniel describing how the light "doesn't scatter right." Isn't it fun to think that this might be because the light they're seeing is mixing with 'left-handed light' which is passing through water?

"Um...don't freak out...but it's because you're kind of underwater right now, Dan."

Add in an electromagetic boogeyman and I think you've got some elements that feel...at home in the mythos.

As for following up on the spiritual angle, remembering that our classical left is 'sinister', it stands to reason that this 'moon' -- the 'right-handed' mirror world -- may be some kind of Eden. Hence the healing and miracles, etc. (Tying this briefly back into the aquatic, remember that early mariners saw new sea life and immediately ascribed divine traits.)

Honestly, though, the most exciting recent revelation to me was the auction. Was it just me or did it seem like several of the very powerful men in that room might have understood the significance of the Black Rock's ship's log? I would love to find out there is a Secret Society angle to this. And if the mirror moon is Eden (stretching like crazy here) it stands to reason that there might be a long history of 'adepts' who somehow knew it was out there...

Could James Widmore be L. Ron Hubbard?

I see no reason why the science can't be tied into the mythology in a neat little bow at the end of the show. Brian K. Vaughan just did it beautifully in his comic series 'Y: The Last Man.'

For God's sake, Mike, keep this going. Even if it turns out to be completely off the mark (and I seriously doubt that) we'll all have had great fun here stretching out brains.

-JB Love

J.B. Love said...

BTW - You are to be commended for the respect and tolerance you give to all the posters. Not sure I could be as magnanimous in my own replies.

Anonymous said...

There are two reasons why I think your theory should not be correct. It's based in real physics, but since this show is sci-fi you may very well have revealed the core of the show. But in terms of basic physics it would violate some basic principles:

1) people are made of ordinary matter, but the island is mirror matter. people would have to be made of mirror matter to live in the island. the idea of every subatomic particle in the human body becoming its mirror seems to be pushing the story a lot, but it could be very well just a sci-fi idea.

2) the moon would have to be way too small. the island inhabitants would be floating around, jumping higher than the astronauts in our Moon.

there's also the pregnancy thing, and an element that appeared in disguise in the episode "the constant": kerr black holes. If you really understand of theoretical physics, you know what these are. i even came up with an idea that there are mini black holes in the island, possibly trapped in the island's natural resource: the strongly magnetic holmium. no mirror matter required.

but you're theory is quite amusing, nonetheless. reminds me of Saint Exupery's The Little Prince.

Anonymous said...

Little Prince! Yes!!!

Helvio, I think the idea of particles switching is science fiction, but you need to compare it with other theories.

A time machine that resets time is utterly junk science fiction, just as wormholes floating in one spot on a moving planet is fiction.

I've read probably most of the comments here (and the old ones too) and the gravity issue is addressed repeatedly. The moon needs to be be very dense.

But whatever the weaknesses here, the alternative theories that I've read about totally destroy common sense physics. All things considered, this makes far fewer errors than anything else.

Also it covers a million minor details and they all fit. Most theories ignore the details or just make twists in logic to explain them.

I'm sure Mike can do a much better job at defending his theory. Then again, he seems pretty humble and objective about its strengths and weaknesses. This doesn't seem to need defending anyway, because the POSSIBLE gravity issue is the ONLY one I've seen anyone ever mention.

The theory is extremely popular because when people read, they see how tightly it works. (My guess.)

This is some REALLY SOLID stuff with REALLY SOLID reasoning.

My 2 cents.

Mark S.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

Did you read the time loop theory?

Is it just me or did he totally PLAGIARIZE this older theory on DarUFO?

http://theoriesonlost.blogspot.com/2007/05/great-gedanken-experiment-tale-of-time.html

The island is in a time bubble which is in the past and time is reset every 108 minutes!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I must confess that I, as a trained theoretical physicist, thought about the mirror matter possibility before, specially because it reminds me of Lewis Carroll's tale of Alice and the Looking Glass. And I also thought of a Little Prince-like planet, because of Desmond's going back in circles. I think that literary references are very important in LOST, so I thought those aspects of theoretical physics would be relevant. But I never thought in joining both as Mike did. It is very ingenious and I like it a lot.

Then I came across another ingredient of theoretical physics in LOST, and so I didn't know how to fit everything in a sounding theory. In the episode "The Constant" there are several references to spinning black holes. I wrote a quite lengthy post some weeks ago about them, in the Lostpedia Forum:

http://forum.lostpedia.com/showthread.php?t=11063

I am curious to know how you would fit them in your theory...

Anonymous said...

Oh, and the reason why I think Kerr black holes could be very important is that, as I explain in my Lostpedia Forum post, these kind of objects allow travel between two distinct universes. You just need to go through the oval-shaped ring singularity, and you get to a mirror world (even though not "mirror" as in your theory), which I always thought about it as a mix of "going down the rabbit hole" and "going through the looking glass"... I sound addicted to literary references ;)

MikeNY said...

Anonymous —

Who knows what Lost is all about, right?

The producers are science fiction nuts, BUT they also are wonderfully gifted at telling compelling character stories. I think that's where the show is going. Pseudoscience might be involved, but I'm sure it will only be a backdrop.


J.B. —

Thanks man! Love the feedback.

Have you seen the chalkboard sketch from Hurley's hospital? (I added it to the bottom of the page.) I just caught it tonight. It's actually close to the "parachute" cartoon toward the top of the page.

I think you're right on the money with the island/heaven comparison.

As for "adepts"... the producers just raised the idea of historical contact with the island... I mean to say that other people may have mind-traveled like Desmond, perhaps throughout history, as they came in contact with its EM field.

I'll keep going. This lets me stretch my brain between long bouts of "real" work and it's enjoyable enough :)


Helvio —

As it happens, I've fallen in love with the Kerr notion. I just haven't had the time to read up. That post of yours is truly an awesome resource. Perhaps I can start there :)

My hold-up has been that the model seems to be a non-micro singularity, as in an ergosphere large enough to encompass the "island realm" as the producers call it. That would be huge, and make the gravitational issues here seem petty. But I think it's an amazing match in enough respects to warrant some really serious theorizing.

It's about choosing your violations... :) or rather, trying to guess which ones the creators forgot about :)


The min-travel stuff seems pulled directly from Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five." Even the terms (e.g., unstuck) are the same. In that book, the unsticking doesn't have a clear cause. So I'm not sure how the creators might have thought it relates to the main premise of the show. Did they just throw it in for fun? Does it play off a theme of temporal scrambling (like the anagrams) that you might get from a Kerr-based premise?


Oh... 325 happens to be the designation of an asteroid in "The Little Prince." Not sure about 305 :)


Mark S —

Thanks for the defense. I guess my position is to not defend anything exactly... just shine as much "sunlight" as possible. That's usually the fastest way to the truth. (Sorry, getting rhetorical.)


Anonymous —

I've only had a chance to browse the time loop theory.

The Gedanken theory does use a time bubble, and resetting the time machine every 108 minutes, which puts the island bubble in the past.

Actually, it does sound very similar on the surface. :( But does he acknowledge the theory? There's a lot of "108" talk and also many time loop theories. So I'd be very reluctant (just in general as well) to throw around the plagiarism charge. I'd definitely give him the benefit of the doubt. Surely someone has pointed out the similarity and it's been addressed by now.


As for time loop theories in general? I'm more interested in finding a "plausible" mechanism before inventing a new form of time travel. The Kerr idea would be a great example of such a mechanism.

Resetting time makes no sense to me. Also I don't see what putting the island in the past or future (unless it's the start or end of man) does for the show. So far we have mind-travel from Slaughterhouse-Five and maybe some temporal sloshing. That seems to cover any temporal wackiness as far as I can tell. (But that's just a rushed, under-educated response. I might be missing something hugely supportive of the notion.)


Mike

Anonymous said...

Mikeny,

See ABC capsule below. Maybe it's Regina who washes ashore in next episode--if so ub trippin. Cheers-Mirror Disciple
"The Shape of Things to Come" - Locke's camp comes under attack, and Jack tries to discover the identity of a body that has washed ashore, on "Lost," THURSDAY, APRIL 24 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/MARIO PEREZ)

MikeNY said...

Mirror Disciple —

If Regina does wash up on the beach, that would actually be extremely cool.

This might be the only theory that can explain how someone who drops straight down from the freighter—through the water—could possibly end up on the island.

Mike

Anonymous said...

Mike,

I've been following and enjoying this theory for a while now. In the picture of the chalkboard you just posted, did you notice how it shows Matt Abaddon below the water with his right eye and the shark for some reason above the water with its left eye showing. The shark is in white chalk and Abaddon is obviously a black guy. That drawing is also a crazy match to the moon idea. Let's see if Regina shows up in the next episode!

Also, in the painting it shows night above the water and day below the water. Plus the woman is white and the guy is dark with a missing left eye. Sorry, I think you mentioned this earlier. But its very cool.

J.B. Love said...

Mike,

Been doing some reading on the Faraday effect. Was quite enthused to read this:

"The Faraday effect, a type of magneto-optic effect, discovered by Michael Faraday in 1845, was the first experimental evidence that light and electromagnetism are related. The theoretical basis for that relation, now called electromagnetic radiation, was further developed by James Clerk Maxwell in the 1860s and 1870s. This effect occurs in most optically transparent dielectric materials (including liquids) when they are subject to strong magnetic fields." (Wikipedia, "Faraday Effect".) Essentially -- and I'm no physicist so 'essentially' is the best I can do -- it deals with forcing light to go one direction. Meaning that the source of this light would be invisible to us, no?

Surely this leads us (in the arena of science fiction, at least) to some sort of light + water + electromagnetic weirdness equals...something?

My other bit of reading today gleaned me a little more understanding of Minkowski's "Imaginary Time" theories, which, when added to the particular attention to Vonnegut's "unstuck in time" language -- plus the Tralfamadorians (the alien race in 'Slaughter-house Five') evidently see time in exactly this way -- creates a kind of 'credible' link to the time-travel-of-consciousness phenomenon.

Remember that Desmond's 'trip' was triggered by pulses of light shone in his eyes...

I've read the Time Loop theory and I find it strains too hard to unify disparate theories. Actually, if he pushed the Minkowski-time idea, it would make a lot more sense.

Here is a link to a couple of physicists discussing some EXCELLENT screen-shots of Daniel's notebook. (The Kerr constant and the Minkowski diagrams are mentioned explicitly.)

I, too, would love to see Regina wash up on the beach.

Just thought I'd drop these and help our favorite little theoretical 'dark horse' (heh) along...

-J from GA

Physicist talk:

www.advancedphysics.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9008d

Anonymous said...

this was by far the best theory i have read, good job.
Also, i think the reason the "moon" would stop for 4 minutes at a time, would be because it comes into contact with the earths water, which makes sense for them to be able to leave the island on a submarine.
When the moon comes in contact with the water i believe it slows down significantly and this is the point at which the losties are able to get onto or off the island.

Also i was wondering why you had not incorporated the 30 or 31 minute delay explanation from the freighter's time to the islands time. When daniel farodey had the missile shot to him, it had a delay, as if the island had its own timezone or something

Anonymous said...

So, let's assume this thory is correct. (And maybe someone has addressed this, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating anything) but we can assume that the knowledge Charles Widmore has about when and where to get onto the island has been shared with the freighter four + 1. Lewis and Faraday are unconcerned about the time differential with the chopper flying from the island to the freighter: They know what to expect. Contrast this with Daniel's concern regarding the 31 extra minutes in the experiment. What's the problem, Dan? See what I mean?
1. Ben comes and goes (fine).
2. Naomi reasches the island (fine).
3. Frank reaches the island (fine).
4. Frank leaves the island (fine).
5. The rocket from the experiment reaches the island (uh oh).
If the experiment was to determine whether the "moon" had gone out of its orbit - and the answer was "yes", wouldn't that have spelled disaster for anyone trying to get onto the island at a mathematically precise point and time?
On an unrelated note, could "Tallahassee" be a code word for "the American South"?

MikeNY said...

Anonymous —

Thanks for catching the cool bits about the drawing behind Abaddon (and the mural). The chalkboard bits never hadn't occurred to me.


J —

Thanks for the info.

I think the simplest explanation for the "light scattering" issue is the presence of a strong EM field. Suppose this were right, though — you could be on to something about the mixing creating the strange effects.

Daniel's research is a little odd in that it combines ideas about "faster than light" travel with "unsticking." (Then again, it's just Hollywood people filling up a chalkboard and notebook with ideas they might have found relevant. "Time travel" —> diagrams we find when we google the term.) Frankly, I think the mind-travel element just complicates the show (not that I don't love watching it in the story).


AdamCA —

Thanks.

My take on the slowing is just my understanding of how such orbits should work. (Much like a swing, only slower.)

The rocket issue still confuses me. When the chopper left it seemed to jump forward in time by at least 24 hours. Likewise, Flight 815 seems like it may have jumped forward when it entered the island (I'm assuming a normal island in the South Pacific) by maybe 16 hours.

The best I can guess right now is that there is a random amount of lost time, or that, for some reason, trajectory upon entry and exit dictates "lost time."


Anonymous —

Thanks. I think the most promising explanation for the entry/exit time weirdness is a random effect or one based on trajectory. The orbit disturbance, while still potentially fun, is perhaps the lesser explanation.

The Kerr black hole (or some analogous scenario) seems like the best model for little time shifts at the border of the "island realm." Then again, actually having a black hole—even a modified one—in the South Pacific containing Earth-like properties is probably more outlandish and impossible than a moon of mirror matter.

In short, I'm at a loss without more information.

One possibility is that they simply want to incorporate reports of "lost time" in Bermuda Triangle-type areas into the mythology of the show. If that's the case, we should simply expect random "lost time" as you cross between "realms," with no further explanation.

Another possibility is that there are unidirectional wormholes that somehow travel through time and space with the island realm and Earth. The delay might correspond to which wormhole is used.

Again, that would be improbable/impossible... but I think we're safely beyond that point.


Let's see if Regina washes up on the island. To the best of my thinking, only an island that is beneath the boat (at least momentarily) would be able to explain that.

Her "departure" time and the arrival time of the returning chopper may have been at roughly the same time. That's good for the theory, because a boat that isn't moving should be near an orbiting mass at the same time each day.

(Apologies for the rambling)


Mike

aohora said...

You are most thoughtful and well researched. I don't know if I can synthesize a mini-moon floating around inside the Earth. However, that is most likely my aversion to theoretical physics.

I am VERY interested in the left/right issue. I have a pretty good start on an idea about that (which mostly pertains to new info from season four and why our fav characters are acting so strangely).

I have a question for you first, though, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I've had some perplexing reactions to this little observation, but you are MOST observant and open-minded.

If you would, could you look at the screencap you have of Jacob here?

Do you, by any chance, see a CAT on his left shoulder? It looks like a shadow at first, but a second look might show that the cat's face is visible even though it's not really where it's supposed to be.

Can you see the cat?

MikeNY said...

aohora —

I see the cat!

But... I can't say I'm convinced that it's anything more than a convenient arrangement of the shadows.

I'd love to hear another take on the left/right issue.

All 4 of Jacob's "shots" show his left side or left eye. Any connection to what you're thinking?

Mike

Anonymous said...

Looks great but i don´t think this will end up perfectly clear for anyone. In this theory i dident find the answer to this. Remember Desmond said "I crashed your plane". Seems like he did cuz when he dident enter the numbers that strong magneticfield grew stronger and bigger. I think that kind of dragged the plane down or just crashed its equipment. If i got this theory right there was only one huge coincident that the plane passed the moon and was dragged in. Maybe i just dident find it but if its nor there you have somthing more to explain. Really nice theory that must have taken months =D

MikeNY said...

Anonymous —

Thanks. I think it's a pretty settled case that the magnet in the Swan dragged the plane to the island. The idea with the theory is that the plane was "trapped" by the moon (and near the island) beforehand.

The door is open as to whether anyone had to orchestrate anything to make it happen. I think psychics knew it would happen (the psychic in Australia seemed to), and so, knowing that, they could steer people onto the flight if they wanted to.

Mike

aohora said...

mike,

"convenient arrangement of shadows"? Are you kidding?

You reaction does not surprise me at all, and I hold no ill will. Here's the thing. There are hidden pictures all over the show starting from the very first scene where Jack wakes up.

If you don't "believe" in them, that's okay. Digital info is digital info, however, and there are several repeating images, like the cat on Jacob's shoulder, that lend symbolic clues to exactly what's going on. They also explain why our main characters are acting so strangely this season.

In addition to a repeating cat, which I've seen hidden on Jack and Myles, there's a hidden bunny. I've seen it on Danielle and a few random others.

Hidden pictures relate to the left/right issue as well. It doesn't take much looking. Just pause your frame during any closeup of any character and you'll see that the right and left sides of his/her face don't match at all. This is BLATANTLY apparent on Juliet, Kate and Sun (during "Ji Yeon"). Even Myles, when we first meet him sitting in his car has a weird face thing going on.

The problem with seeing the hidden pictures is that they are very cleverly done. A screencap, except for Jacob pictured here, is unlikely to catch it. The only way to really see them is to slow the shot down almost to frame by frame. Some images are hidden in ONE frame during the shot cycle.

OH--if you really want to be freaked out, watch Nadia's face when Sayid turns to face his friend/commander right before he shoots him. You've never seen anything creepier.

You poke around, especially season 4, and let me know what you think.

MikeNY said...

aohora —

To be sure, they could very well be editing frames to subtly "paint" images.

What do you think they are (or would be) hinting at?

Mike

H E Pennypacker said...

Mike

I've been going thru the third season the last couple of nights in order to get thru the break on TV (I lost interest partway through Season 2 and only saw from Catch-22 onwards once I realised what I was missing!)

I've seen from Ep 301 right up to Flashes before your eyes (Great Ep) and I must say the 'Not in Portland' episode with the bizarre Room 23 was a big boost to this theory - the amount of shots on that film reel of a moon would've passed me by had I not read your theory.

I'll also note that the old Woman in 'Flashes' who tells Desmond if he doesn't push the button "then we're all dead" this really stuck with me and I think it's a big pointer to the island being on a moon.

Think about the real moon for a moment - the fact of it's size and it gravitational relationship with earth have allowed life to prosper on this planet, one could surmise that since Gravity is shared between Dark and Light universes then the moon being knocked out of it's orbit by a more a powerful force (EM) could have devastating effects on Earth's gravity and thereby jeopardising life in the real world.

I also think it's significant that The Others did not know about The Swan, they don't know what The Monster is yet they still have their own reasons to protect the island/moon from outside interference. It suggests to me that the various mysteries on Lost will not be tied up by one single explanation - which is a good thing because I beleive this gives your theory (and I beleive your theory) some breathing room

Anonymous said...

Mike - Perhaps another tidbit for your "Further Evidence" section are the 3D coordinates and reference to a subterranian conduit located on the Blast Door Map that appeared to Locke in the lockdown. http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Dharma_stations.jpg

I am thinking the Island needs a conduit between the Left and Right Matter, so subterranian would be from the perspective of someone above the island in the real world.

Mirror Matter Disciple

MikeNY said...

H E —

Thanks :)

The brain-washing film does hover on the moon for a bit. It's hard to say if it's really in tended to point to anything however.


In reality, any sort of mass that was oscillating Earth's center of gravity would have very noticeable effects.

I've taken great liberties here (as the writers do on a regular basis) with physics. The theory fits the show, rather than reality.

But suppose we really did model the orbit of a really dense mass in orbit (with zero friction)... To my knowledge, applying friction should make the size of the orbit smaller. (Im thinking of adding a damping term to a harmonic oscillator, for the math geeks reading this.)

Maybe with another burst of friction, the moon might be too far below sea level to be accessible?



MMD —

Thanks. Clever idea.

For me, the catch would be that the moon is supposedly moving.

Then again... if the cerberus vents reference locations on Earth, the conduits could as well. Right?

Still, the station was underground, so subterranean conduits seem to make plenty of sense.


Mike

Anonymous said...

Mike, another possible mirror matter connection. Actually, dark matter.

JACOB Bekenstein has a dark matter theory called MOND. Mond = moon in German.

Btw, that's actually amazing that Hurley crashed into the big pile of mirrors. Seriously, that seems like a ridiculously obvious clue for mirror matter.

Anonymous said...

More Mike,

Le Shade was the name of the guy in Expose. It means the shade in French. Shadow matter? Shadowlands?

Better still - look at the text on thehansofoundation.org

It's stuffed full of phrasing with relevant references.

In the first para alone there's: shade, light, shadow, blinded, hand

More: bring rebirth to a dying land, transparency, dark entity

Not to mention the very obvious yin-yang logo again.


back to Epose. What do you think is the symbolism behind pulling off Paulo's right shoe and burying him with his white, right sock showing?

Anonymous said...

Lindelof: "The island has pull on people, even when they're not on it."

What if the moon is at rest at the center of the earth?

Either way, sounds like gravity to me!

Another Mike

Anonymous said...

Mike,

USA Today opportunity for you to test out theory --200 word gauntlet might be challenging.
Best,
Mirror Matter Disciple
Here's your chance to have your hypothesis graded by the experts – Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, executive producers of the ABC drama (returning April 24, 10 p.m. ET/PT). In 200 words or less, give us your explanation of any or all of the myriad mysteries: the island, the survivors of Flight 815, The Others, Dharma and any of the other baffling questions that have made Lost TV's top brain-teaser.

USA TODAY will publish some of the best contributions, online and in print — and forward a handful to the Lost braintrust who will evaluate them for originality, completeness, logic, etc., without spoiling future episodes by indicating if your theory is right, wrong or really wrong. (Disclaimer: No real Lost secrets will harmed in this process.)

Follow these rules — or else your e-mail will be eaten by the smoke monster:

•E-mail your masterpiece to jdeerwes@usatoday.com by Wednesday, April 16 at 5 p.m. ET

•Please include your contact information: Full name, city, and a phone number where you can be reached for confirmation

•Keep it to 200 words or less

•Use the subject line "Lost theory"
Source: USA Today

Anonymous said...

There's a rumor that Ben will control the smoke monster in the next episode.

So then it should be something mechanical, right? Like an arm again?

Or maybe like a squid if he can create some kind of beacon?

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

Per your request, I'm resubmitting my comment. Was curious if you've seen Lawrence Weschler's "Everything that Rises: A Book of Convergences," which documents how certain media duplicate, to whatever degree of accuracy or consciousness, things which have come before. I thought this could be adapted into your theory of different "sides," since works that he references are eerily similar.

More to the point, the title is a paraphrase of a theory of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, priest and paleontologist, who wrote about "The Omega Point," and different spheres of existence.

I've enclosed a link to my blog about this on the Fuselage site:

http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?t=93526

Even if one doesn't think this is entirely relevant to your theory, it's still very interesting stuff, and Teilhard's work is definitely applicable to LOST.

Thanks again for your time! Hope you like the new episodes.

Eric

MikeNY said...

Anonymous (1) —

Thanks. Cool Jacob and dark matter connection.
I think the mirrors were pretty wild (and meaningful). I wonder what the intention was (mirror matter or not).



Anonymous (2, or 1?) —

Thanks. Le Shade is indeed a fitting name. I wonder about Expose and its meaning... A world within a world, like the doll? Time is slower on the island (like their heart rates)?

As for the right shoe and white sock... I think it was definitely deliberate and symbolic. In terms of the theory, it's a mismatch. Perhaps the two sides intermixing... like the people from a left-handed world crashing on a right-handed world?

Definitely seems to be a theme around shadows -- as you suggest -- in Hanso's message.



Mike —

Thanks. That's a cool quote, especially if he meant it as an inside joke.



Mirror Matter Disciple —

Thanks man. I actually tried to slip in a quick summary. I'll let you know if anything comes of it.


Anonymous (3) —

Thanks for sharing the rumor.

What's cool is that appearances of the smoke monster will pit the explanations to the test.

If it does in fact look like marine wildlife, then I think the idea of a beacon would be a brilliant one.


Mike

MikeNY said...

Eric —

Thanks. I love it!

So let's imagine the island is a place that accelerates the complexification/unification of consciousness.

There are wonderful references, of course... black holes, the blast of light (as you mention), the apparent bleeding of consciousness between people and bodies...

I don't find a clear reference to a yin-yang-type arrangement in Teilhard's philosophy (I could be missing it), but I think the parallels you draw are strong enough even without one.

If we just assume that a "dark side" to consciousness must exist, then I could imagine that part of the evolution will be a confrontation (and hopefully reconciliation) of the two sides of consciousness.

Could Jacob's List be of those individuals capable of handling a "rushed" evolution?

Mike

Anonymous said...

Extreme language below







This theory rips the show a new azzhole!

Anonymous said...

Swans can be only white or black.

They also used those black and white notebooks in the pearl station.

~ Megan

Anonymous said...

Best. Theory. Ever.

The attention to detail and how everything is a play on mirrors and light/dark is amazing.

Anonymous said...

Australia is the key to the whole game.

The physicist is Australian, right? I mean the real one.

There's also Ayers Rock.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

I'm curious about what the smoke monster might have corresponded to this time. It seemed like a train.

One thing I noticed is that its sounds all sound they have been collected from underwater or undergrund. There's the submarine woop sound, the clanking anchor sound, the crane/metal grinding, etc. So if its a mirroring life form, maybe it collects those sounds and then mirrors them kind of haphazardly like a bird that copies noises.

John M.

Anonymous said...

Mike -Popular Mechanics magazine is reporting in an interview with Darlton that they, the writers, are "very interested in these physicists who have been building this particle accelerator in the Alps, and there's been a lot of debate and concern about what's going to happen when they start smashing these particles into each other." In fact, the European Centre for Nuclear Research (Cern)in the Alps has been used for mirror matter experiments in the past. Another image from Episode 4.9 that I found supportive was the way the silouettes of Ben and Charles' faces were shadowed and split right down the middle in the final scene. Moonlight from the window illuminating the left side of Ben's face and the lamp lighting Widmore's right side. A "Shadowland" reference perhaps. Lots of possibilities with the face shadows. That's it for now.

Cheers - Mirrow Matter Disciple

H E Pennypacker said...

Just saw 'Meet Kevin Johnson' last night, found it funny that Lapidus was comparing Flight 815 to the "faking of the moon landing"!

MikeNY said...

Amazing episode! Great articles too this week.

Here's my favorite snippit:

Kimmel: Is everyone on the island from the planet Earth?

Cuse: [Long pause] Yes. That may be one of the best Lost questions we've ever been asked.

Lindelof: When you get asked questions like that, you have to be very careful how you answer


I think the best bet now for Smokey is a mirroring life form unique to the mirror moon (mirror monster, see above), picking up behaviors, shapes, sounds, etc., and improvising based on what it has experienced.

Ben apparently pissed it off somehow by fiddling with something underground, perhaps related to the magnetite that would likely make up the smoke.

The identifiable shapes and sounds still mimic underground/underwater, light-producing machines, and sea-life.

I could imagine an excited frenzy of giant squid in the ocean, swirling around, with a tentacle grabbing the mercenary.

But I think the combination of sounds and shapes—especially the incredibly long worm-like cloud—point to an almost haphazard combination of qualities that it has picked up.


Or, you know, it could be something else entirely. ;)

The "temporal sloshing" and apparent Orchid-based jumping of Ben points me back to something approximating a Kerr singularity.


I'll try to respond to your comments this afternoon.


Mike

MikeNY said...

Scratch that on squid... Think eels or cerberus fish I mention above, only giant.

If you think the writers associated deeper with bigger, they might have been a group of eels, possibly electric.

If the writers realize that's unrealistic, my second guess is still the mirror monster introduced at the bottom of the page. The shapes, sounds, and behavior would be an amalgam of many of the EM signatures it has sniffed out from illuminated machines/animals in our world.

What's especially cool is that Ben seemed to use Egyptian technology to summon/agitate the beasts.



Anonymous (1) —

Uh.. Thanks.


Megan —

That is a cool thing about swans... and the notebooks.


Anonymous (2) —

Thanks.


Anonymous (3) —

Yes, the physicist is from Australia.

Speaking of Ayers Rock, doesn't the large "rock" in Desmond's mural remind you of it?


John M. —

I think I know what you mean about the train. It kind of charged into the Barracks.

You basically nailed the mirror monster idea.

The songbird analogy is fantastic.


Mirror Mater Disciple —

Thanks. Yeah, I read interview. Actually, the first thing I thought of was the risk of ripping a hoe in space-time. :)
I think a group is actually suing to prevent them from carrying out the work without further safety calculations.

That brings us back to black holes and Kerr...

The half-lit silhouettes were another potentially wonderful allusion... up there with the mirrors Hurley crashed into. I snuck in a shot of each above.


H E —

Thanks. That's yet another possible indirect reference.



Mike

MikeNY said...

Tsk tsk...


I think one of the biggest implications of the Egyptian room is that


THE SMOKE MONSTER PREDATES DHARMA


It was either created by the Egyptians, or is simply a natural occurrence on the island (say, either one of ideas here, or a native beast of a different sort entirely).

lostmio said...

Mike, I'm revisiting this after Shape of Things to Come.

Your MMM theory has legs, strong ones... I was glad to see you're updating it.

MikeNY said...

lostmio _

Thanks. It's peculiar stuff like the half-silhouettes that keeps it going.

I'd love any of your thoughts or suggestions.

Mike

Anonymous said...

HI - not sure if anyone has pointed this out, but in the bonus material for Season 3, Damon actually says, "...they're in this sort of mirror world" which I think is great evidence that you're right on the money.

Everyone I talk to about the mirror matter theory agrees that it makes a lot of sense!!!

mufkin said...

hey mike, great theory...i really like it a lot! i just have one quick questoin: are the losties converted to mirror matter versions of themselves when they first come to the island? the reason that i ask is that it seems like they would have to be otherwise they would crash into the earth when the mirror matter moon passed through it. they would need to be made of mirror matter in order to stay on the moon and not be deposited back on earth. I would love to hear your thoughts. Again, excellent theory!

MikeNY said...

K Hall —

Thanks. The quote sounds brilliant — and I hadn't heard of it before. Maybe I can rent the dvd...


mufkin —

Thanks. Yeah, the speculation is that they were converted at the moment the plane "disappeared" 6 hours into the flight. That was 1 or 2 hours before the crash.

The electrical flashes on the chopper presumably corresponded to the moment when the chopper and crew switched back. I'm not 100% sold on it, but it does fit.


Cheers

Mike

Anonymous said...

hey mike, excellent and thorough theory! the only thing i might add is that the mirror matter moon orbits the earth's core through a different time dimension than earth. What are your thoughts on this idea? If we think of time as a fourth dimension then maybe the mmm and earth don't follow the same path through time. maybe the island is so hard to find because it has to intersect the earth geographically and temporally...and only sometimes all these factors line up. I would love to hear your thoughts. I think your theory is the best one i've read so far.

MikeNY said...

Anonymous —

Thanks.

Cool thoughts. Feel free to take the ideas wherever you think is fun or appropriate.


I was just thinking about the time issues too. :-)

These are some early thoughts on where I'll probably take this... Pardon the formality...


The producers look up wormholes and discover that they are supposed to connect you to a mirror universe (see Einstein and Rosen). Then they make mirror matter = mirror universe.

And if people wind up on the island accidentally, to explain events like those associated with the Bermuda Triangle, they need a natural Casimir effect to allow the wormholes to naturally occur and be traversable.


The idea then is that you need to be near the moon for the Casimir effect to do its thing—to get to the island.

Once you're there, you can kind-of jump off using the Casimir effect, or, exploit the Casimir effect to open wormholes in a controlled way to jump around in space-time (only off the island, because the Casimir effect only exists there to harness).


Back to time... The point would just be that there might be some natural "temporal sloshing," or sloppiness in the two points in time that the natural wormholes connect.


I'm just laying out some thoughts... and that might not have made much sense. :-) I'll be working what I just wrote into the theory. Thanks for humoring me.


Mike

Anonymous said...

i read the whole thing and it makes sense but one thing i noticed was not in there was desmond's phone call to penny on christmas. with the two times being off, wouldn't the christmas on the boat be different from penny's?

MikeNY said...

Anonymous —

I think the boat is in the Pacific, not on the moon proposed in the theory.

Mike

Anonymous said...

This completely blew my mind

Did you hear about the reference to CERN in the poplular mechanics article? Maybe they think they might open a wormhole to the other side.

Anonymous said...

This HAS to be it!

If not, they should switch to this immediately. It fits perfectly, so no one would be the wiser ;)

-J

Anonymous said...

Jack was reading Alice in Wonderland, wasn't he?

Christian's shoes were black?

The stuffed animal was black and white again. It's just like the panda.

Mark, Dark Matter Initiate

MikeNY said...

Anonymous —

Thanks. Yeah, the CERN stuff is fascinating. I actually read about what they're talking about in paper recently.


J —

Thanks. Appreciated.


Mark —

Not sure about the book, though Lewis Carroll sounds like a good bet.

I think Christian's shoes were white again.

Probably need to rethink the associations. One black and one white now (charlie and christian) off-island. Perhaps the color is about sides, as in opponents? Maybe the color is meaningless... just meant to emphasize the shoe(s)?

Yes, the black/white animal theme now seems deliberate.

Thanks.


Mike

Anonymous said...

Mike,

I know the timeline might be in flux but have you seen the preview? It looks like our island messiah might become the "chosen one" on Christmas based on your timeline.

BTW, this is amazing work! I'm sold until further notice.

BF

Anonymous said...

Mike,

I think the producers are throwing you some props: did you notice that the mobile above Aaron's bed contained the planet Saturn and what appeared to be a moon, ala Iapetus, "a weird moon of Saturn." Also, from the bedtime story when I woke up this morning was I the same person, and if I wasn't...that is the great puzzle." Apart from an existential question, wouldn't a mirror matter moon "visitor" start to wonder about such things?

Cheers,
Mirror Matter Disciple

MikeNY said...

BF —

Thanks. Yes, I'm not sure about the timeline, but it COULD still work. So I'll definitely check out the Locke Christ parallel. That would be very, very cool indeed.


MMD —

Jack was reading Alice in Wonderland!

"Keep hitting that theme guys..." It only helps this theory.

I'll have to check out the mobile. Thanks man.


Mike

Anonymous said...

Mike,

If they're able to come and go to the island at will, does that mean the big chunk of mirror matter might be stationary?

Rob

MikeNY said...

Rob —

Precisely!

I think such a strong case can be made that it would be silly to not revise this as the show dictates, as opposed to dropping it out right.

The scenario would be that the chunk of mirror matter crashed into the pacific and became lodged beneath the surface, as the chalkboard drawing and mural suggest... and like it shows in the "Sri Lanka" logo.

The main sticking point would be how to get the plane from Nigeria to a chunk of mirror matter in the South Pacific. Ditto for the Egyptians. From where would the wormholes originate and why would they deliver you to the coordinates of the island?

Gravity would be simple too...
But I'm getting ahead of myself and the show...

Thanks.

Mike

Anonymous said...

Fuck every other theory. This is it. The moon is moving or it's stationary. Moot point. This explains everything in a way that is so cool.

Gene

MikeNY said...

Gene —

It's funny.

I look at this and all I see are flaws.

For me, this is just a fun way to take a break. A big part of that fun is being blown away by others' insight and creativity.

Nevertheless, thanks.

Cheers.

Mike

Anonymous said...

Hey mike, elegant theory. I love it and am now a disciple of it. a few questions/comments though

1. how do the numbers (ie. 4 8 15 16 23 42) fit into this theory?

2. I have no background in anything science beyond high school, but logically (it would seem to me) if there is a mirror moon of our world that is a fraction of our size, on that mirror moon would there not be another mirror moon, which just like the expression: -(-1) = 1 the mirror moon on the mirror moon would be our world. this could solve the gravity problem because in an infinite regress scenario, there would be no reason for there to be a disparity between any two constants in either. (this theory is much like a concept used on the episode of futurama "the farnsworth parabox."

3. what do you make of Ben's statement "He changed the rules" in episode 4.9 when the freighter captain shot his daughter?

4. if this island has to do with mirror moons and whatnot, why would the dharma initiative set up something so trivial as an observation station at "the question mark" which was really a psychological experiment? perhaps it was to monitor the experimentee's to see if they ever had periods of blackouts like desmond and faraday did where their consciousness was transported. i dont know, but it sounds too trivial to be a mere psychological experiment in the midst of such serious study/world saving

J.B. Love said...

Hi Mike,

Cooler and cooler stuff...

I caught that Kimmel interview, too, and I thought it was funny the way they looked at each other when the Planet Earth question came up.

CLEARLY there is a 'celestial' basis here that is becoming more and more inarguable.

My big question currently has to do with the "Consciousness-Jumping". It seems a point oddly waylaid by the writers, at the moment. If we're dealing with 'bodily' transport to another physical place, (i.e. moon to earth), why introduce the idea of "unsticking" and "course correction" at all? Doesn't it seem an unlikely concept to introduce just to abandon in favor of ships and helicopters? And even more interestingly in terms of the theory here, during the process of C-J there are TWO PHYSICAL BODIES. Which of course bolsters the Bad Twin/Mirror idea significantly.

(What if Hurley was right? If we allow for this, then perhaps they are, in a sense, "still on the island.")

I may be overreaching here -- in fact I probably am, but I blame the welcoming tenor of the site -- but this idea of Two Bodies/Diverging Timelines might be worth exploring...particularly as an alternative to what we've been thinking of as 'Ghosts'...

At any rate, something to look for in the big pile of irreconcilable clues they love to heap on us.

Thanks again for the site, Mike.

MMMF (Mirror Matter Mofo)
JB Love

MikeNY said...

LOL—you guys crack me up with the monikers


David —

Hi. Thanks!

1. Some numbers are included.4.8 hour orbit, 23-hour days, 16 extra days per year, 42 is mirrored in the latitudes... But they might not be needed. Producers: "We can explain the meaning of 16 and 23. We disagree about explaining 4, 8 and 42."

2. I think the gravity issue persists simply because having a very dense object moving around would in reality definitely have an effect. Consider just our moon and the tides. The stationary scenario would solve the problem, however. We'll see if the idea survives long enough to warrant that kind of revision.

3. I like temporal paradoxes, but the producers keep saying they don't. I think the odds are just that Widmore crossed a line sportsmanship-wise. (What could be worse?)

4. I like your idea. I think the story (fairly confirmed) is that Dharma drilled into the mysterious and super-powerful underbelly of the island (the core in the case of this theory). They really were saving the world (maybe just the right-handed world in this case). So yeah, maybe they just needed to be monitored, especially given the issues that you point out. It could've been an experiment in observation, but I think it was just as likely they were keeping close tabs for serious reasons.



JB —

Thanks again.

I think that question was a indeed a killer.
Option A: Some people are aliens... Smokey a person?
Option B: They needed to pause because the island isn't exactly on Earth.

Yeah, the unsticking Vonnegut stuff is a bit of a detour, don't you think? I mean, whatever the island is, if it's just the place where people sometimes become unstuck, that's cool, but I wouldn't find it terribly compelling... especially because course-correction would kill any fun.

Is it fluff? Is it the idea of memory doing a 180? Is it to emphasize duality, like you suggest?

Part of me wants to stay away from multiple timelines. I like it, but I think the producers don't. Goodspeed, in the preview, seemed to be himself, only stuck with the body he died with.

The frustration is part of the fun.

Hope to hear more from you.


Mike

Anonymous said...

If this isn't correct I'll honestly be surprised. I seriously think you nailed it. Ya, stationary or moving, with wormholes it might be a moot point. The overarching explanation here is what is important.

The comments at the end from the producers are especially damning IMO.

Patrick

Anonymous said...

I LOVE this theory!

This is Lewis Carroll brought to reality or as close as you can get I guess.

The Portland part is sheer brilliance (the writers for working it in and Mike for figuring it out).

Yes I think the producers shot themselves in the foot with those comments.

~Jess

Anonymous said...

Mike,

Thanks. Now you've got me hooked on this. ;-) I don't know if you caught this from Popular Mechanics...

CC: We can say that we've been very interested in these physicists who have been building this particle accelerator in the Alps, and there's been a lot of debate and concern about what's going to happen when they start smashing these particles into each other. People who are following that will probably enjoy some of the stuff that we're doing in the upcoming run of episodes.

I found this paper about finding mirror matter with that collider.
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0005238

There's also concern about creating a singularity. Pathway to a mirror universe?

Patrick

MikeNY said...

Patrick —

Thanks!

I'm ever cautious... but the producers' comments have warmed me up a bit. The collider is mentioned i Foot's book, and articles, like the one you linked, of course. I'd guess they were primarily hinting at singularities. The island might metaphorically operate like a Kerr singularity, but I personally find a wormhole to a different universe (or side, as it were) is more interesting. Who knows :)


Jess —

Thanks.

I do like the Portland thing. :) If that's not the meaning, maybe there's a portal near Portland? I like that idea as well.


Mike

Anonymous said...

I think you're exactly right, but the island, well the moon that is, is probably stationary.

DR

Anonymous said...

Wow!

Maybe it's stationary but they can move it because it's connected because of the interaction between the two kinds of matter...

You might not have it just right, but holy smokes, could be extremely close!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to an update... this must be the only way to move an island unless they meant in time (and I don't get how or why that would work).

Anonymous said...

Hey, I guess you really got what Lost is all about -- without using spoilers! I found something on the March 21, 2008 podcast that might give more confirmation to your theory.

When talking about this season's final scene (not the super secret scene that appears earlier in that episode), the producers state: "this isn't one of those jaw-dropping ones with 'right is left' craziness -- that kind of thing" (4:30min). They might have slipped something VERY important -- without anybody noticing: That RIGHT actually is LEFT (like when you look in a mirror) inside the island's sphere!

Wouldn't it be crazy if the producers actually gave away the show's biggest secret there -- just by using a metaphor they thought nobody would start thinking about???

Thanks again for the great work,
Dave

Anonymous said...

Mike - I can't thank you enough for your theory. I only discovered it at the beginning of this month and it couldn't have come at a better time - I'll never watch LOST the same way again!
When this season is over, I definitely plan on going back and watching again seasons 1-3 but this time keeping your theory in mind. And for God's sake, please keep adding new info! I don't care if people say it's crazy or "scientifically impossible." Have we all lost our imaginations? Thanks again Mike :)

Anonymous said...

Amazing!

Just tweak this puppy and it might be case-closed.

Mark

Anonymous said...

One more thing..
WHY DOESNT RICHARD ALPERT AGE? Seeing him looking at the newborn John Locke in last night's episode ("Cabin Fever") almost sent me over the edge. My head literally wants to explode because he's one of the characters I'm most fascinated with but there's so few confirmed facts about him.
Does anyone have any theories on how he might be staying forever young? :)

MikeNY said...

DR —

Thanks. It sounds like you're right... but perhaps not for long...


Anonymous —

Thanks. Yeah, that's pretty much the direction I think the show is dictating.


Anonymous —

I also find the idea of moving the island in time to be curious. But I'm having a hard time pinning-down the how and why of that. Can yo move something out of the present? If you do, can you get to it through another bearing? And how would moving it in time help?

I think my job here is to see if the "island that literally moves" idea continues to work.


Dave —

everything that's right is left... cats and dogs, living together... :)

It's not such an outlandish phrase to use (I like it myself), but who knows, right?

Thanks, Dave. I actually missed that.


Mark —

Thanks. We'll see...


Lidija —

Thanks. This is really for myself, but I really enjoy the discussion, 99.99% of which is pure fun.

As for Richard... time-traveler based on bearings and wormholes? Some kind of biblical parallel? (that is, people living for hundreds of years; a similar story could be playing out in this "new world")


Mike

Anonymous said...

First I thought you're insane.

Now I think you're a genius.

I'm in awe...

Jason

J.B. Love said...

Hi, Mike,

Wow. Last night's was a doozy. So we know now that the island is forward in time, relative to the ship (Earth). Or, at least, that if one doesn't follow the exact heading -- say, go through the worm hole the wrong way -- one can actually go backwards in time.

Duhbuhwha? Time travel is such a headache.

I like Richard Alpert as an alien. Could he be the only original Other left? (Big removing-his-sock reveal coming?) Maybe there was a kind of seeding process, back when the Others (Aliens) first came to Egypt. And now they're trying to recreate their Perfect Society with their genetic heirs...many of whom are marked by their "special-ness", (e.g. sensitivity, bravery, cleverness). It would also explain why only certain people are able to cross over or live past death or whatever it is Christian and Walt and Ben's Mom are doing.

This is an old story, but I wouldn't put it past the producers to have built all this complex machinery on familiar ground. If for no other reason than it allows the casual watcher, when it's over, to say "Oh. They were aliens from an invisible moon from inside the earth trying to recollect their descendents while fighting evil Capitalist Exploiters." Pretty simple.

Right. "Simple."

I'm leaning toward the Stationary Moon Argument, because Lapetus can obviously come and go whenever he pleases. And if Sayid makes it easily through to the island on the boat, we'll have confirmation that it can be reached at any time and by any conveyance (as long as the heading is followed precisely).

I'm still stuck on Ben's "jumping", but I think we can agree it's by using the ancient machinery behind the Be-Symbol'd Door, most likely to manipulate an EM field for personal use. Controlling Smoky, jumping in time and (or?) space, etc.

Anyway, this is all just tossing the ball back. The one thing I can actyally contribute today is this:

I found a link with some AWESOME explanations of the I Ching Hexagrams in the Dharma logo. You should definitely read this when you get a moment. There is repeated use of "above" and "below" in some very compelling ways. This writer's name is J.M. Berger (credit where credit is due) and he did a wonderfully thorough job accidentally supporting your theory.

Here:
http://www.egoplex.com/2005/09/lost-numbers-hexagrams-iching-and.html

Mazel Tov!

-JB Love
Mirror Matter Monkey

H E Pennypacker said...

I wonder if they have to "move the island" did Desmond turning the key render it stationary?

Western Addition said...

Did you notice the Backgammon game in the beginning of the episode? It was white and red.

In the first episode of Season 1 Locke talks to Walt about Backgammon with Black and White pieces, setting up the dichotomy that we are using for this theory.

I can think of two possibilities.

1. That the red and white pieces signify that the distinction and polarization of the two worlds hasn't begun yet (Locke is probably 50-60 years old. At his young age, perhaps the Dharma initiative hadn't started yet?)

2. The producers are telling us that while yes there are very important parellels and distinctions between light and dark, but that we shouldn't get bogged down with only two options, good or bad. The red pieces could be saying that there isn't always a clear distinction between right and wrong or this world and the world on the island.

Thanks for listening to my spontaneous ramblings. Please keep updating this thing and continuing your great work

Anonymous said...

I've moved from the insane to ingenious camp too. :)

If it moves in space, this is probably the ONLY explanation.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

You have to check out this page if you haven't
http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Access_Granted

Look at this quote in particular from the producing team:

Damon Lindelof: If an Island is defined by land mass surrounded by water they are on an Island.
Carlton Cuse: Right. That’s good.
Damon Lindelof: Right.
Carlton Cuse: Yea. I don’t think we should say anything more than that.
Damon Lindelof: Yes. That’s how that’s...
Carlton Cuse: That’s right.
Damon Lindelof: This is about definitive answers. We have defined the term Island we’ve confirmed that we are in fact on one.
Carlton Cuse: And it's surrounded by water.
Damon Lindelof: It is.
Carlton Cuse: But everything beyond that is kind of up for grabs.


It all seems to fit more and more with every revelation.

Mark

MikeNY said...

Jason —

Thanks.


JB —

Thanks for the link. The I-Ching seems like a compelling possibility.

Someone somewhere (lol) drew out the to's and fro's on and off the island. I think it painted a messy picture where we can't say whether either "world" is actually offset in time from the other. It seems like heading equals temporal offset... or at least whether you can expect a big one or small one. I really wonder what the limits are of the offset. Days? Millennia? Seems like days at most, so far.

Stationary (for the moment) seems like a wise bet. I want to see exactly how Sayid makes it through before I revise too much.

I think we'll see exactly how the wormholes work in the next couple of weeks.

As for a familiar story. Check out BigMouth's biblical parallels if you haven't already:
http://eyemsick.blogspot.com/2008/04/lost-bible.html

Cheers!


HE —

Yeah, me too. There certainly was friction :) We can only speculate (not that that's been a hindrance, lol).

One thing does seem fairly certain, however: The island was moved after the purge. Hence, the Widmores needed the failsafe discharge to find it.



Western Addition —

Thanks. I'm not sure how to read the red and white pieces. But, I'll stick with your analysis. Or, of course, C it wasn't deliberate (nahhh).

Richard and Abaddon almost seem like representatives of opposing sides, meaning this feud could be nearly eternal (reincarnating heroes on each side). So I'd lean toward (2).


Anonymous —

Thanks. I'm hard-pressed in finding an alternative to explain spatial movement. That's not, of course, to say there isn't one. It's just that moving a land mass on which there happens to be an island seems easier than slicing off an island from the mountain beneath it.


Mark —

Thanks! That quote must be in the top few. I'll shove it onto the page post-haste.



Mike

Anonymous said...

I like very much this theory...
But, I think the Dharma Initiative try to find on the island one Theory of Everything by a Theory of String. Supersimmetric theory is easy to made in a location with mirror matter

Anonymous said...

Mike,

This is frighteningly plausible.

I say this with all sincerity. I'll be surprised if the island is NOT on a chunk of mirror matter that crashed into Earth eons ago.

Yes, I think they're in Starboardland, as you put it, Mike. To think I cared about who is in the coffin... (shaking my head).

A.W.

Anonymous said...

Wow. After reading that I feel like it's "game over."

This is vetted and compelling. Best of all, it wouldn't be a let down.

Anonymous said...

Apollo Bars with dark chocolate, Dhark Matter Initiative, Starboardland, Crab Nebula, I love it, I love it.,

Anonymous said...

Mike,

Follow Faraday's notebook. You're getting off-track.

Mirror Matter Deep Throat

P.S. Eddington-Finklestein coordinates and Schwarzchild metric are in plain view.

Anonymous said...

One more thing, did you notice the "tortoise" onshore directly ahead of Sayid's beach landing? What does that have to do with the tortoise coordinate for ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates?

MMDT

MikeNY said...

Anonymous —

Thanks. I love string theory too. You might check out 'E8' for something between the two.


A.W. —

Thanks. I'll probably personally be on the fence until the series finale. (Just habit.)


Anonymous —

Thanks. Let's see what happens. A lot remains.


Anonymous —

Thanks. I like how that stuff seems to fit in as well.


Mirror Matter Deep Throat —

Yeah. "Singularity" is in plain sight on the page too. In what's above, wormholes are very important, but they don't exactly define the island (that role is filled by mirror matter).

If I could figure out how to put a Kerr singularity in/on an island without the extraordinary physical side effects (e.g., tidal forces, etc.), well, I'd be excited. There's serious ongoing discussion about that sort of thing. Here's a starting link (if you're new to it):
http://thefuselage.com/Threaded/forumdisplay.php?f=89

I really wonder if the tortoise was an allusion to the joke about the island being on the back of one. But can they even lease a tortoise for a day? ...

Hopefully, we'll see the island moving (beyond, say, a purple sky). If it's movement in space, the land mass that the island is part of must (AFAICT) be separate from Earth. Should be fun...


Mike

Anonymous said...

Your theory really hit home with me after watching season one again and noticing something in the last episode. The Black Rock is from Portsmouth!

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike-

You're a good one. Since you seem to be super smart (I mean that in all seriousness) could you, or someone else explain Hurley to me? It seems in the flash forwards that he is crazy. But is he really? Or is he the only "normal" one. When Jack goes to visit him in the asylum he says Charley comes and visits with him and tells him stuff. How is this possible? Sorry if I missed that somehow in your post. I tried to read it all. It's almost two in the morning. I might be a little crazy. Thanks so much for your time.

Anonymous said...

On other thing to consider is the episode titled "The Shape of Things to Come". This was a work of fiction and a screenplay by H.G. Wells whose body of science fiction work was well ahead of its time (see MikeNY). It's about a dictatorship in the future trying to turn society into a Utopia. It could be said the book took influence from "Last & First Men" by Stapledon, (whose also wrote Darkness and the Light- where have we seen that before.) Stapledons book was about genetic manipulation and telepathically linked individuals. This could also explain how all the people on Flight 815 came to be there- they were linked somehow and came together. One idea I do like for the smoke monster is swarm theory. If we assume the smoke monster is made up of some sort of metallic dust which the island/jacob/ben can control using the electromagnetism- that would explain quite a bit. Just my thoughts. Anyhow, great job Mike on pulling all this together. Quite impressive!

palamedes79@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Did anyone notice the mobile of the solar system above Aaron's bed in the flash forward. The planets are revolving around what could be the island, not the sun.

Anonymous said...

Finally think im getting my head round this theory, Ive got a few ideas that i want to throw out there and see if they work in this theory.

Smoke Monster - i think it may have simular powers to miles - it can read the thoughts (brain impulses) of the diseased to distract information that it may need.. examples are Yemi, Anna Lucia, Jacks dad?. It may be that Miles aquires his powers though the smoke monster/the island...

Jacob - doesnt like torches, why? he may be travelling through time and a torch gives an indication of what time he is in, this may also be why the hostiles live in such seemingly poor conditions - the only signals of the time that these characters are living in are tents and guns...and eyeliner.

Intersting line - I noticed there seemed to be a little emphasis on the child Farraday saying 'i can make time' when reffering to his piano playing - maybe this will be important later as he attempts to make new time. Also his name Farraday - Fairer Day? ie he is attempting to create a fairer/better time for the losties.

Other Names - Charlie Pace - sPACE time continum
The Kwon's - Quantum Physics
Abaddon - Abandon (the island)

Jacks gonna diiieee! - Remember when Locke found the pit of dead Dharma folk - one wearing a workmans outfit was shot. We know it cant be Bens dad, and there seemed to be a little moment when Jack recieved his Workmans outfit that suggested importance. Could that be him?? Or do many people on the island h wear Workman clothes ?or is it willie... the only other janitor mentioned.

OR do these deaths not happen - remember Miles reading the mind of a dead character called Felix whom apparently had photographs of empty graves - why are they empty? something changed??


The moon - in the scene when Bens daughters boyfriend (cant remember his name) is being brainwashed there are quite a few images of the moon, as well as gears, machinery, food, a speedometre, a wheel.

Im also convinced Hurleys dad will show up on the island.. thoghts please

                                                                        The Fuselage | DarkUFO | Lostpedia / Forum | Eye M Sick | Lost HEMA Theory