Let me start off with a disclaimer and mods if you feel I am starting these threads in the wrong part of the site please let me know. I am going to pose another question as the basis of my post but Im putting it here because I feel answering question creates a theroy but technically it isnt one intially until someone responds. I should of made my name "the rambler" instead of just_a_fan LOL!


Anyhow lets get to the meat n potatoes of whats on my mind. We are under the impression that Dharma created the swan station as a means to discharge excessive electromagnetic build up being generated by something. We are also lead to believe that entering a specific sequence of numbers at a specific time interval is how that task is accomplished. These numbers are entered into a computer. We are also lead to believe that if the task isnt completed correctly the consequences are catastrophic. My question is: Why would they design a safety plan that can so easily fail when the consequences of failure are so severe. Couldnt they of just programed the computer to enter those numbers automatically when they needed to be entered. Why leave such a mundane task at the mercy of humane error? There has to be something more to this. The only logical thing I can think is there is a reason why humanes have to sit there and enter the numbers like that. What could it be I have no therioes on but there must be a reason. If there isnt one and that is just the way they desighned it. That is an extremely poor desighn and implies that whoever did it was an idiot. Considering how advanced Dahrma is in general I find it highly unlikely they hired an idiot to desighn there safety program for the electromagnetic discharge thing a mig jiggy. I appologize if someone has already brought this up I have not seen anyone mention it and I just recently thought about it. Any and all thoughts that might tie this one up neatly would be greatly appriciated.

Txs 4 your reply
My problem with the whole psychological experiment explination is: Would you experiment with something that your also using as a safety device unless you had a failsafe mechanism in place to replace that safety mechinism if it failed? This just not make sense to me.


The first part of your reply I am not comptuer literate to know when the capabilities of computers allowed for creating a program to automatically enter those numbers. I do however believe tha dharma had assembled a clever group of scientists that could protect themselves against having an incident occuring due to something as simple as human error.

right we know that dharma is kinda big on the mind games and the sort.  i'm not sure i would put it past them to have made the computer and numbers a mind game.  because of desmond turning the key we have no idea what would have happened if he didn't.  we assume that everything would have been bad, but we don't really know.

thanks for starting all these wonderful threads JAF

well the "numbers" are meant to be cursed, as seen in the episode with the same title....the numbers were Hurley's winning ticket numbers, which he got from the guy in the mental hospital, that guy got the numbers from a guy who used them in a bean counting contest....who in return worked at a ocean station that picked up the recording of the numbers being announced...which came from the island...

now from Lostpedia the numbers 4,8,15,16,23,42 all add up to 108 minutes, which was the timer for when the minutes had to be inputted.  So if anything thats the significance the writers are using for the numbers.  Now its also mentioned that these could be coordinates....maybe the ones needed to reach the island's vicinity.

ramble:  well there are real islands within the vicinity area if you use the numbers as coordinates....depending on what type of coordinates you use leads you to different areas and islands...


on topic: well if we see "flashbacks"(and i use that term loosely) of Dharma, im sure we will see a non imploded Swan station and might find out the true purpose behind it.  we know the Orchid actually moves the island....but what did the Swan do?  Which when thinking bout it confuses me a lil.....if Ben and the others always knew about the Orchid, how come they never went to get rid of Kelvin or Des?  My only theory is that Ben knew all along the Des would come to the island causing 815 to crash, and Ben was playing by the "rules"  on this big chess game called LOST....

Because Ben has already seen it happen......

After rewatching the end of S2 last night, I have come up with a lil theory of about the Swan and pushing the button.


I wanna say that the island, before Dharma, was always shifting through time...that the electromagnetic energy of the island would grow to large and force the island into traveling into the past( easily explains the Black Rock) or to the future(possibly explain the 4 Toed Statue?).  The island has been constantly doing that for who knows how long.

Now enter Dharma, they find the island and all its vast properties...probably building the Orchid first.  I think the Incident that Candle referred to in the films, was the first time Dharma experienced the Island moving...possibly to the future?  The Incident is what caused the Swan to be built, and the button needing to be pushed every 108 mins.  As it was the only way to keep the island from time traveling (now I know it kinda throws off the fact that the Orchid is what actually moved the island).

Think of the island constantly being unstuck from time, as it doesnt exist in real time due to the electromagnetism.  And the only possible window of leaving it was the bearing we all know. 

So how did 815 end up crashing on it?  Well since Des didnt make it back to the Swan in time, he wasnt able to discharge the energy, it started building up, causing the island to revert back into real time...that energy caused maybe an emp to be released knocking 815 out of the sky...but then the numbers were finally imputted and the island reverted back to its state of being unstuck from natural time.  This can help explain why Des wasnt able to leave the island with his boat...he didnt have the bearing to head, and the island actually didnt exist in the real world for him to travel to...basically the snow globe theory, cause it was, the island was in a bubble that was existing outside of time.

Enter S2's end, and John destroying the computer...the Swan goes into severe electromagnetic build up, far more than when Des was late pushing the button.  I believe the island was reverting back to existing in real time(Purple Sky)...one thing I noticed was that at the dock where Ben, Jack and crew were at....at first when the sky and noise started to happen, Ben was the only one that didnt cover his ears at first, and had the look on his face that he knew exactly what was happening, like he has seen it before.  I think maybe he thought the island was moving through time again, but actually it was getting "stuck" back into real time.  By Des turning the Key and imploding the Swan, I believe it completely placed the island back in real time, maybe for good....also sending Des on his lil time traveling adventure from Catch 22?

I think the Swan imploding was what allowed the island to reappear in real time, and allowed it to be found by the freightor.  Remember the 2 guys in the ice area?  The Swan implosions energy was picked up by their scanners, revealing where the island was.  What did they do after that, they called Penny to tell her....why would she be looking for the island in S2?  Desmond told her in his incoherent mind frame back in the Constant in 96 from this season, rambling about an Island, which also gives you one time loop.....the Swan imploding started in motion the island being found....because Penny (and Faraday in someways) new about it back in 1996.

Its long i know, but its somethings that I observed last night from watching, which by the way, Locke and Eko, werent far away from Des at all when he turned the key....in Locke's case, atleast, what if time traveled like Des too, and we just havent seen it yet? 

Well your right, I just say the Orchid cause its easier than saying the icy room with the donkey wheel  ....but technically the lower level of the Orchid is where they were testing time traveling.....as seen by the films with the rabbits...the wheel itself is what moves the island completely...


Now by no means am I saying that the Swan wasnt important or the numbers....put i think the Swan was sort of the security device, to keep the island from fluctuating between real time and limbo.....This can also help explain why there is such a huge difference between on island and off island time. 

Specifically from watching the Constant, the trip on the heli for Frank, Des, and Sayid was a time frame from early morning, and they didnt land on the freightor til mid day.....but on the island Jack was questioning why they hadnt heard from Sayid in over a day?  When the trip should of only took 20 minutes.