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TwitterIn bloom: Part 2
Yesterday I started to outline a way in which the actions of Benjamin Linus could be seen in a more rosy light. In other words, maybe the guy's got a legitimate reason for doing everything he's doing. Sure, he may be a little...extreme in his methods, but perchance, just possibly perchance, they are for more benevolent reasons than we've previously been led to believe. After all, Michael Emerson certainly plays Benjamin as the hero within the narrative, so maybe there's something to it.
That "something to it" takes the form of two paradoxes I briefly mentioned yesterday: the grandfather paradox and the ontological paradox. I'm not here to try and wow you with big fancy words and hope to fool you with the Emperor's New Theories. I'm pretty convinced both theories are inadequate in fulling explaining Ben's motives, but both serve to illuminate them a little more than I believe I have in the past.
The grandfather paradox consists of one of the central paradoxes inherent in theoretical time travel. Suppose you went back in time and managed to kill your grandfather. (You know, because one Christmas he gave you a book instead of a Transformer or something. You have your reasons. I'm not here to judge you.) By killing your grandfather, you've essentially ensured that you yourself were never born. But there you are, having just killed your Pop Pop. Both actions seem to negate each other, resulting in the paradox.
The ontological paradox is a bit more difficult to explain. It tries to look at events which are influenced by knowledge from the future affecting events in the past. The paradox consists in not being able to accurately assess what information at what time caused certain events to happen. To wit, as stated in the link, Harry Potter is able to conjure a Petronus in Prisoner of Azkaban because he's already seen his future self do it. It's pointless to argue if Harry would have been able to do had he NOT shown up, because he always and ever has shown up.
And now, my head hurts. Whether or not it's because I just tried to explain the ontological paradox in one paragraph, or I was always and ever destines to have a headache at this particular moment, I'll leave to clearer minds. But these paradoxes are important in terms of Lost in that they describe, in broad strokes, the various stakes involved in a world in which time is a fluid and multidirectional thing.
Ben Linus, I would argue, is trying to fulfill an ontological paradox through his manipulations on the Island, while ensuring that no one, absolutely no one, tests the boundaries of the grandfather paradox. While the latter is seemingly impossible, the Island is nothing if not a place where the impossible becomes possible. Moving to and from the Island represents the absolute pinnacle at which this paradox could be broached, setting into motion a series of paradoxes that could literally threaten existence.
Yesterday I talked about the two Rabbit 15s in the Orchid Station, and how terrified Halowax was of the two coming into contact. Well, let's use Jack's "5" tattoo and think about it this way: what if there's a way that, should Jack go back to the real world, there's a possibility that two Jack 5's in that world? What would happen should Island Jack 5 meet Real World Jack 5? What exactly is Halowax so afraid of?
The reason such a possibility exists related to the "shifts" discussed in the Orchid video. To access the Island itself, I'll wager, one must wade through a shift in the form of the electromagnetic anomaly surrounding/hiding the Island. Doing so is possible but rife with paradoxical problems. Think of the radio station heard by Sayid and Hurley in Season 2. Think of the Amelia Airheart radio transmission heard by Sam Thomas in Find 815. The island exists in a time previous to the one we currently live in, plain and simple.
Thus, when Ben sends members of the Others to the real world, he chooses two types of people. He chooses those he trusts the most, and he chooses those with the least likely chance (if any) to incur this paradox. The "bumpy" part of the Galaga trip to the Island is the effect of the shift. While "bumpy," it's not as violent as, say, being ripped from the sky while on an airliner. This is why Richard Alpert seems to be Other #1 when it comes to real-world missions. His seeming agelessness belies just how long he's been on the Island. By this point, he could be/would be dead in the real world. And just how old is Ethan, anyways? There's nothing that suggests he's any younger than Richard is. It's never been explained either way. It's possible these two are among the elder statements of the Others.
Now, the chances of incurring a devastating paradox on the Island itself is rather slim. Chances are you won't run into yourself on the Island, in that you never would have ever been there before in your lifetime until reaching it through extraordinary means. (It's not like the anomaly exists around DisneyWorld, say, running you the risk of encountering your eight year old self dressed up in the brightest colors ever conceived by man so that your mother would never lose sight of you. Aaaand I've shared too much, haven't I?) Moving backwards in time to a remote place is one thing. Returning back to a world in which you once existed, in a TIME you once existed, is where the issues arise. Thus, Ben's disinterest in letting anyone leave the Island. It's as much to do with control as with world preservation. (The gaping hole in this, of course, is Michael's departure, but I still hold out hope that the compass bearing of 325 led Michael somewhere he didn't anticipate.)
This contradiction could perhaps explains another paradox: how come Naomi and Anthony Cooper insist that Oceanic 815 was found at the bottom of a four-mile trench, with all passengers dead inside it, if the Lostaways are alive and well in another timeline/universe? Well, think about what happened to Rabbit 15 during the shift: he literally appeared in two places at once. It's quite possible that Jack 5 is on the Island about to bring a world of pain on the Lostaways thanks to his bull-headed decision to ignore Locke's warnings, and he's also at the bottom of the Sunda Trench in our world, hanging out with Nemo and/or the Cloverfield Monster.
Having explained the grandfather portion of Ben's methodology, I will end for today, leaving tomorrow to explain the ontological paradox currently going on in Ben's world. But in the meantime, I want to point you towards a certain song from Season 1 that might suggest to you where I'll go with this portion of the paradoxical lesson. I think, with all that's happened in the show since first sung by the Artist Formerly Known as Shannon, it takes on a whole new meaning, no?
Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Okay, I'm trying to completely wrap my head around your theory here. This is what I don't get (based on what I'm pretty sure you're saying)-- Ben doesn't want anyone to leave the island because of the whole grandfather paradox, because the island exists in a time earlier than our own- earlier than September 2004- and so if they leave the island, they'll be in the "past" and run the risk of running into their past self. Do I have that right?
If so, how does that explain the flashforward of Jack in 2007? From what I understand from this theory, if he and five of his fellow Lostaways leave the island, aren't you saying they'd (or at least Ben thinks they would) end up in the past?
i read that more as jack 5 returning to an existence where half of himself (or a clone of himself, or however you want to describe the split) is already dead.
Consider this: Island time is currently in 2004. "Real world" time on the show is 2007. If a character leaves the island and heads into the real world, he/she is going into the future, and in the case of Richard Alpert has no chance of encountering a past version of himself elsewhere based on careful do***entation of where he's been. Every time he returns to the island he's going into the past, and constant trips back and forth may explain his slow aging process. So it's not really about clones, just individuals in certain points in time. As long as past and future versions of a person/animal/object can't connect, the possibility for a paradox is low.
ryan - you're saying (i think) that reality has split, not just shifted in time. so: Desomnd doens't enter the code and 815 crashes. at that moment, THAT reality splits, and we simultaneously have 815 at the bottom of the ocean and parts of it all over the island. BUT since the same reality (plane at the bottom of the ocean) can be presented to, say, our good friend Sam at the ARG and all the other friends/relatives of the Losties there doesn't need to be any other explanation to the rest of the world. THIS WAY, THE SPLIT IN REALITY/THE UNIVERSE CAN BE CONTAINED!! holy crap i think i just got it. sorry if all i did was regurgitate what you said, but i had to put it in my own words.
MRI: Right, the split exists, can be exploited in a benign way, but can easily be abused. Much easier to abuse it than use it in a controlled way. (Thus all the secrecy around the Island in the first place from the Hanso Foundation.)
I think Lost works like "Back to the Future II" in terms of time travel rules. The Marty from the first movie can never know the Marty from the second movie is mucking about back in the past. If Marty I saw Marty II, things may go kablooey, and Doc Brown will yell "Great Scott" as the time-space continuum sucks him up.
The whole "Naomi thinks the plane has crashed" versus "Sam still wants to find it" can be explained if, and only if, the end of Find 815 is the Christiane I finding the wreckage that Naomi mentions. Otherwise...yea, that's a confusing mess of an issue.
The song from "Through the Looking Gl***" that Charlie played probably adds to this theory too. "Good (time) vibrations".
Sean: Excellent point. Had forgotten about that. I'm sure there's something about musical harmonics and the "shift" that are somehow related.
I think I get it now, and I like how DK explained it, too. So, Naomi wasn't lying about 815 all being found - because in her world it was. Richard can visit his future (because in the future he is on the island and will not run into himself) - right?
Rosemarie: Pretty much. It would be easy to say Naomi's a liar if not for Anthony. He's got no reason I can see to lie.
In my theory, Richard can't run into himself in the real world because he's outlived that version of his self. The crash of Oceanic 815 in the trench could likewise explain how six of the Lostaways can leave the Island without anything catastrophic happening. (Unless you count Jack's beard as catastrophic.)
Do you really think the writers/producers/creators of Lost are getting this deep into the whole thing? I kind of hope not. I really hope there is an easier to understand answer to all of this!