The Tail Section

Submitted by Shane Smith

It’s probably not the first time that good ole frozen donkey wheel
skipped its axis, and since we are all still here I imagine the
ancients that built it probably had a protocol of sorts to realign it
should it happen. What DHARMA didn’t realize when they tapped into the
“near limitless” energy supply is that they would be subject to the
same problems as the wheel, namely paradox.

Just like Eloise the rat, a paradox can occur when you become privy to
some future data that could negate the need to ever send you said
data. Imagine you stumble upon a simple temporal device that allows
you to send one email to yourself one year in the past. What do you
send? How about stock market data, allowing yourself to make billions?
Of course, your success in the market actually changes the market, so
when it comes time (again) to send that email, the data is different.
Or you don’t even find the device because your too busy doing coke off
of Evangeline Lilly’s backside. Regardless, you’ve got yourself a full
fledged paradox capable of destroying the universe (However, the
destruction may be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy.)

The reason the wheel jumped its axis when Ben turned it is because
some sort of paradox occurred (or will occur, spooky right?). Locke
had to come along and right it (he’s special after all). After
studying the wheel, the DI created its own updated version in the
Orchid station not realizing that the “skipping wheel” wasn’t a
technology problem but a temporal one. The DI starts running
experiments and eventually one of those experiments triggers a
paradox. Being super smart scientists that they are, they probable had
a “pull here in case of paradox” lever that would undo the prior
experiment or somehow negate the paradox. But not seeing the big
picture, they didn’t realize that negating the paradox also negates
the need to pull the lever, and we are back at square one with a big
giant black hole where Earth used to be. (Technically, a really tiny
singularity with a great big event horizon, but I digress)

So what do these scientists do? Well an incident like that would mean
DI would need to implement its own de-paradox-ing protocol. But you
can’t just have scientists around waiting for a paradox to occur to
pull that lever. No, that lever must be pushed periodically regardless
of whether there is any hint the universe is about to blow up. With a
couple of shills inside the swan cya’ing every 108 minutes, the DI is
free to attempt to solve Valenzetti’s equation again without any
annoying world ending destruction. After all, if you set out to
prevent the end of the world but end up causing it instead, you’d be
sorry too.

And no theory is complete without some real-world (well, lost-world
anyways) implications:

Ben turned that wheel (even though he probably knew he wasn’t supposed
to) for one reason: revenge. Just as soon as his daughter was killed,
Ben knew he was leaving. It was very convenient that Locke was
gullible enough to let him use the exit. Ben succeeds in killing Penny
or does something paradox worthy and the wheel starts skipping. John
rights the wheel and pops up. Now Ben has a way back to the island
too! Ben had no immediate plans on killing John, only Ben didn’t count
on John knowing about Hawking. So long as Ben was controlling John, he
would make Hawking send him back to the island too. But once it was
clear that John would make his own way to Hawking, Ben had no choice
but to kill John and used his body as collateral to get back.
Apparently it’s more important to Hawking that John goes back than it
is to keep Ben from returning too.

Just like in backgammon, there are two sides or factions vying for
control over the temporal device. Each side is playing a temporal game
against the other, with seemingly minor events taking on significant
importance when viewed as a whole. Of course, each side has the
ability to course correct whenever the other side makes a change, so
it’s a veritable stalemate. (And explains why some people can’t die or
even kill themselves) It also explains why some of the hostiles are
exceedingly ready to lay down their own lives or take the lives of
their comrades, as they fully expect course-correction to undo it.

One final thought. Go back to Eggtown in season 4, where Charlotte and
Daniel are using cards. The scene starts with CS saying “time” and
then Daniel guessing the cards, of which he gets 2 out of 3. (They
ended up being three six queen, but he guessed three ten six. Or
316?!?!) We all assume it’s a memory game, and it is but not how the
audience expects. He’s trying to use the island time-dilation in the
same way Ben is capable of. Knowing how long to wait because of his
rocket experiment, when CS says “time” she is actually *starting* the
countdown, not ending it. Just like how Eloise would run the maze
before she learned it, Daniel is “guessing” the cards 31 minutes
before CS shows them to him.

Have a Lost theory of your own? Submit it to john [at] buddytv.com
and you too can be published on The Tail Section. Please include your
name to be properly credited and limit theories to a maximum of 500
words.