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[ch42xs]

My theory is that the island is an artificial environment akin to a giant "Skinner Box" designed to take "Special / Chosen" people out of the "real" world and put them together in an environment where their behavior is subject to positive and negative reinforcement with the eventual goal of creating a Utopian society of "super beings" through genetics, metaphysical sciences, physical sciences, and behavior modification. To accomplish this, the system requires devotees on and off the island.

The people on the island are given a certain amount of latitude to explore and overcome their "108 sins" and overcome the "108 temptations" of life to reach NIRVANA (see my reply to "What we already know about the numbers for the meanings of the number 108 or reference the Wikipedia entry for "108 the number" where I got the info, please) Notice that most (if not all) of the main characters is a murderer or responsible for the death of someone either thru their own actions or inaction, comes from a dysfunctional family, and has few if any real ties to the outside world. Many of the islands inhabitants have latent or (as in the case of Walt and Locke) have real and verifiable psychic abilities.

The people on the island are an actual "part" of the island in that their molecules "combine" with the island's in a sort of sub-atomic symbioses allowing for the island to influence the survivors psyches and physical being (Locke's legs and dreams for example) while the characters actions and thoughts influence the islands methods of positive and negative reinforcement (such as when the island uses images of Jack's father to lure him to a needed place of refuge and source of clean water). The security system is a monster to the pilot (whom it kills) and Boone (when it threatens his sister Shannon) but "beautiful" to Locke and Eko by reflecting their own special relation to the island *****Note that the creators themselves have stated that familiarity with the book The Third Policeman will give you more ammunition to disect the plot lines.. one of the books central themes is that the people and their bicycles exchange molecules so that the people are part bicycle and their bicycles are part human.***** I propose that in future seasons, many of the characters will be able to exert control and influence events on the island to a greater degree as their mastery of themselves increases.

Don't forget that the Others also possess the ability to wipe minds (Claire and Charlie for example). It is possible that the survivors are less in control of their own physical bodies and may be subject to more "experiments" than they are aware of.

The Others want Walt and Claire's baby because they are more "special" than most of the survivors and are ready for more "advanced" experiments and uses.

The following is from the Wikipedia

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist and author. He conducted pioneering work on experimental psychology and advocated behaviorism, which seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcement. He also wrote a number of controversial works in which he proposed the widespread use of psychological behavior modification techniques, primarily operant conditioning, in order to improve society and increase human happiness, as a form of social engineering.

Skinner is popularly known mainly for his controversial books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Walden Two describes a visit to an imaginary utopian commune in the 1940s United States, where the productivity and happiness of the citizens is far in advance of that in the outside world due to their practice of scientific social planning and the use of operant conditioning in the raising of children.

[just another other]

This idea has been touched upon before, but a major theory has not been brought about on it in a while. I love it....

[ch42xs]

There is no way Locke could have known about the Nigerian smugglers or Boone's history ie "Theresa falls up the stairs, Theresa falls down the stairs" without some kind of psychic phenomenon so I'm guessing that the "island" supplied him with this information to encourage Boone to climb into the Beechcraft. Also in this episode Locke is the "victim" of Skinner's partiularly favored kind of reinforcement.. taking away a reward (his legs) versus classical negative reinforcement.

The theory about sub-atomic symbioses is indeed a stretch but like I said.. the creators themselves reference The Third Policeman..

"The gross and net result of it is that people who spend most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycles. "

The most common interperatation of the book is that the narrator is in Hell and that the book is circular.. the narrator is doomed to relive the story over and over in a Karmic wheel of some sort.. the creators have discounted the Purgatory/hell aspect of the book so that leaves little else to work with.. in a similar vein note that the creators HAVE NOT explicitly discredited the Skinner Box theory though it has been put forth before.

I think the numbers are part Red Herring and part nod to Eastern Philosophy although they are definitely important in ways I haven't been able to completely decipher yet..

One theme I didn't touch on but I would like to explore is the YIN / YANG symbolism in the show.. good vs evil etc.. Others vs Survivors etc.. how this plays out I'm not sure.

[just another other]

[ch42xs]

The creators discounted the theory of the island being Purgatory in the CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN meaning of the word purgatory

p = The inhabitants are DEAD
q = The inhabitants are in PURGATORY

What they discounted was "P AND Q" because p is FALSE

They did not discount q. The use of the word PURGATORY allowed them to discredit the theory on the basis of SEMANTICS.

Note that the theory that the island is a Skinner Box has been proposed and not discredited gives me some hope I am on the right track..

I do want to point out that there is an incredible amount of JUNGIAN SYNCHRONICITY in the choices of who gets on the plane and who doesn't.

NOTE: Carl Jung along with Richard Wilhelm were HUGELY influential in introducing the I CHING to the western world along with the concept of Synchronicity which is an Eastern twist on DETERMINISM (Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. No mysterious miracles or wholly random events occur... "Karma" refers to an action, or, more specifically, to an intentional action, and the Buddhist theory holds that every karma (every intentional action) will bear karmic fruit (produce an effect somewhere down the line). Karma is the only thing that is fundamentally real.

The principal consequence of deterministic philosophy is that free will (except as defined in strict compatibilism) becomes an illusion

Notice that most every major character (except Hurley) didn't WANT to be on the plane and had a CHOICE not to get on the plane BUT CHOSE TO DO SO ANYWAY.

Jack argues with his mother but she INSISTS he go.
Claire was GIVEN tickets by the psychic.
Walt actually tries to flee the hotel to avoid going but is dragged back by his father.
Sun was supposed to flee from her husband but CHOSE to stay with him.
Jin was going to flee his boss but was "ENCOURAGED" to go by the man in the bathroom.
KATE was CAPTURED (her reward was 23,000 hmmmm) and forced on the plane. Her CHOICES to work for the farmer and to save his life is what led her to be on the plane.
Sayid was supposed to go on an earlier flight to meet Nadia but CHOSE to take the later flight so he could claim his friends body.

The only character who reeeaaaallly seemed to want to be on the flight and fought hard to be on it was HURLEY.

Another clue? The SEAT NUMBERS - JACK is in row 23 ANNA MARIE is in row 42

[tonantzin]

This theory I love... it is very well thought out and logical! It is much better and more evolved than my "this island is a giant holodeck" idea... but mildly along the same lines.

Excellent... good job

I do have one question, though. Do you think that Jack and Ana Lucia are more central to the story than some of the others on the plane? I noticed (Oceanic website) that the other seat numbers are not part of our famous number sequence.

[themetroid1]

i CAN'T wait for season 3......
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[just another other]