4815162342.com

[Turing's Ghost]

Pentangle A-Z What follows is string of bizarre coincidence compiled and applied to actual past and current events. Much is hidden within the text, including long strings of link trails that jump around the lost metaverse. Be assured this little experiment has only the best intentions; a story within a game within a story about a game, based on a story. All of it, like the universe itself, is recursive. There are 5 stories in PENTANGLE. None have yet to be completely told. This fiction should not be confused with reality, nor does it have any direct connection with ABC. Much that is well hidden within this thread will prove insightful, while much that is easily found lead nowhere. This is only the end of the beginning. You'll know when the beginning of the end appears, as it will take us back, exactly 2 years.
This 5 part story is continually evolving. What was presented here on 5/23/07 is the historical background of the real Dharma Initiative and an analysis of fan sites via 3 high profile users. Now on 1/27/08, 4 days before the LOST saga continues, Pentangle will travel beyond this site and LOST. The courses presented on this thread will each make their ‘points’ without it being necessary to read the others. This is all reality based, though fictional. The eventual sorting out of the two is where things will get interesting. (1)


What you are about to read combines a historically verifiable sequence of events with creative speculation. Other users are welcome to add their own coincidental insights to my own. Unlike most who post here, my purpose is not to predict what will happen on LOST based on past events in the show. The currently unfolding plot could go in many possible directions, and ultimately loop back to our past and forward into our future. This story begins with the past, on which it is largely structured. I propose that in 1942, 4 men began planning a message in a bottle. Like Lost it is a tale rich in recursion. Just click on the footnote numbers to read them.


GENESIS OF A LOST LOOP: THE CODEBREAKER


Alan Turing was arguably the greatest unsung hero of WW II. He did more than any single individual to save lives and make the rapid Allied victory possible. For it was mostly through his efforts the Enigma code, used by German U Boats, was finally broken. (2) He also developed the conceptual model for modern computers along the way. They all began as “Universal Thinking Machines.” (UTM) His motivation for developing such a device was to find a way to prove that the Riemann Zeta Hypothesis was not true. (An outstanding marathon runner, Turing is seen below during a race)




The Riemann Zeta Hypothesis was formulated in 1859. It is considered to be mathematics’ most important unsolved problem. The last 140 years did not bring its proof, yet there are a considerable number of important math theorems which depend on Zeta being true. It holds the key to not only the mysterious harmonics of the primes, but also much of Number Theory and physics. The one million dollar reward for anyone who can provide the equation that proves R-Zeta is truly laughable in contrast to what it would actually be worth. One example? If you could chart all the prime numbers along a predictable curve, you could crack any code encryption in cyberspace. All the walls of privacy that protect us online are based on extremely large prime numbers. (Below-Bernard Riemann)

http://www.zetagrid.net/zeta/math/zeta.result.100billion.zeros.html






FROM IMAGINARY FRIENDS TO IMAGINARY NUMBERS


Riemann’s Hypothesis is quite complex. I shall attempt to just summarize the fundamentals for the small percentage of users able to understand the math involved. You do not need to understand Number Theory to follow this thread. If you do, it will just add another dimension to the Pentangle. Mathematically challenged readers should hit the page down key twice now.


The Zeta Hypothesis charts a path for certain reoccurring zeroes that appear among a defined set of ‘imaginary numbers.’ These numbers are in fact as ‘real’ as say fractions, and you can wiki them for a complete and complex definition. Suffice to say here what Riemann proposes is that there is a string of ‘non-trivial zeroes’ which occur along a predictable curve. In so doing they point to a solution to the distribution of the prime numbers. The importance of these numbers to all of mathematics and physics (which is mostly based on math) is only beginning to be understood. Never before has so much depended on an unsolved problem.


In 1975 Don Zagier stated the following in a lecture: “There are two facts about the distribution of prime numbers of which I hope to convince you so overwhelmingly that they will be permanently engraved in your hearts. The first is that, despite their simple definition and role as the building blocks of the natural numbers, the prime numbers grow like weeds among the natural numbers, seeming to obey no other law than that of chance, and nobody can predict where the next one will sprout. The second fact is even more astonishing, for it states just the opposite: that the prime numbers exhibit stunning regularity, that there are laws governing their behavior, and that they obey these laws with almost military precision.”


On March 20, ’07 it was announced that the E8 248-dimension math puzzle had been solved. It is all about ‘Lies,’ and those who can follow the equations can wiki them here. If you scroll down to the section on Geometry, you will see Riemann’s connection to both E8 and Flatland.


A Riemann manifold is a vector space, which is collection of objects that may be scaled and added. Each can carry an inner product. If such a collection of inner products on the tangent bundle of a manifold varies smoothly as one passes across it, there is a series of connections that can instantaneously transmit information from one sector to another even though they are at that moment passing through different dimensions. It is incredibly difficult to explain. Based on the evolution of the 128 points predicted by Riemann, it’s become a foundation of String Theory. It may be more easily comprehended visually below. A multi-dimensional evolution loop could well be one of the ultimate themes behind LOST.








MATHEMATICS PROVEN TO BE ‘INCOMPLETE’


Kurt Gödel’s “Incompleteness Theorem” turned Number Theory on its head. Its impact on mathematics was even greater than Einstein’s relativity was to physics. None could successfully refute Gödel’s hypothesis. It was supported by logical statements about math’s inability to resolve all questions. One example, a variation of the Epimenides Paradox, was a simple declaration: “This statement is false.” I had the Zeno Paradox posted here until 8/14, and nobody either caught or bothered to mention it. Makes me wonder is ANYBODY actually reads this. Sigh.
“All consistent axiomatic formulations of number theory include undecidable propositions;” Gödel declared, and “all claims of consistency in Number Theory are in fact inconsistent.” (3) The longstanding numerical conception of the universe imploded. The suicide rate within the ranks of number theorist spiked. Many had dedicated their lives to seeking answers it was always assumed were there, awaiting deconstruction. Now they learned that some hypothesis, while true, could never be proven. Their only hope, that these “undecideables” could be somehow identified, was later dashed by Alonzo Church and Turing. (Below- Kurt Gödel)





In 1937, Turing published “On Computable Numbers.” His hypothesis included the proposition that a machine that could actually ‘think’ was possible. Later he developed the ‘Turing Test’ to determine when the goal had been achieved. It involved humans asking questions on computer terminals. They would be connected to other people replying on desktops is a second room, which also had several computers running on software-Eliza was an early interactive program-that would automatically respond to any queries. If the replies were sufficient to fool those asking the questions into thinking they were being answered by another person, not a computer, the program had passed the test. Eventually Turing’s ideas formed the foundation of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) field.


Turing also proved in his ground breaking paper that re: Gödel’s theorem, you could not tell in advance whether a hypothesis was one that could never be verified from those that had simply eluded a solution. Only when conjectures were proven and became theorems, could you know for certain they were not among the ‘undecidables.’ (4) He also laid out the roadmap for all future computers in this seminal essay, while contributing an important corollary to Gödel’s theorem. (Early Turing notation on how to extend the search for the ‘non-trivial’ zeros of Zeta and Turing’s original recursive memory storage circuit sketch, which in time laid the groundwork for all memory storing computers, appears below)





In 1936 Turing’s work at attracted the attention of John Von Neumann, a dominating figure at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Studies. (IAS) It was largely through his influence that Turing was invited to finish his doctorate there. Von Neumann later introduced Turing to Gödel, who he had long admired.

The father of Game Theory



Finishing his Doctorate at Princeton in ’37, Turing often discussed his Zeta Hypothesis obsession with Gödel, who was a frequent guest of the university that year. With proof of Zeta, everything could change. Together they conceived a plan to produce equations that might prove Zeta, true or false, once the UTM (computers) network capable of running the numbers existed. Gödel later enlisted his closest friend Einstein in this endeavor.


THE G.E.T. Z PROJECT BEGINS (Gödel and Einstein at Princeton)


“Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.”-Einstein



These three pioneers all well understood that once the equation proving Zeta was available, it could lead to a renaissance of scientific advancement. Or, it could be misused by any tyrannical government that got hold of it. It did not occur to them it might become a recursive Trojan Horse, enabling advancements in Artificial Intelligence resulting in our being ruled in future by the machines we created. Thinking about it, I often feel we are getting quite close already.


Probably even futurists like the GET team couldn’t have imagined the above ‘terminator’ scenario. Their concerns were primarily about cryptanalysis. With Zeta, an Orwellian uber-state would be capable of breaking any code. No form of electronic transmission would ever again be secure. The flow of information and exchange of ideas would become irrevocably compromised. Its potential frightened them. Worried about what would happen if the solution to Zeta got into the wrong hands, they decided to keep their work totally secret. When Turing’s UTM network was finally available, the answer could be obtained and made public before being monopolized by any group or individual.


Four years later, while working on Enigma at Bletchley Park, Turing had an epiphany. Rather than publish their eventual proof in some arcane mathematics journal, where such breakthroughs came first to the attention of various government agencies, it would be gradually revealed through a series of cinematic fictions. Once the general public understood the incredible potential the Zeta solution offered, both for good or for evil, they would demand it not be misused by the Pentagon or the KGB. The key to the plot of the story would be the mystery surrounding a strange series of numbers. These would actually be a code, referring to the Zeta equations once they were available. Woven within the plot, the Zeta Proof and its’ true value would slowly be explained.

On 8/16/42, Gödel received a letter from Turing requesting he ask Einstein to set up a meeting with Walt Disney. Turing’s expertise cracking code made his assignment to consult with U.S. Naval Intelligence necessary, and he returned here to do so in November of 42. Sensing a possible relationship with Zeta in creating the atomic bomb had alarmed him, adding to fears about what governments could do with the Zeta proof they’d been working on. He knew Einstein was likewise worried.



SO WHY DISNEY?






Gödel and Turing were among millions worldwide to be enchanted by the first animated full length feature film that launched Disney’s career; “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” It was released in ’38, and both men became ardent fans. It was a frequent topic of conversation between them. After Turing decided fiction was the best way to reveal the significance and meaning of Zeta, an animated serial by Disney came quickly to mind. Cartoons were already quite common in theatres at the time, and Disney had produced several popular anti-Nazi propaganda ones during the war.


Looking back on our history, there are countless examples of popular fictions bringing about radical shifts in public opinion going back to the time of Sophocles. [url=](1)[/url] Many believe “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” played a significant role in starting the U.S. Civil War by stirring feelings in the north against slavery. Disney’s propaganda cartoons (below) had a huge effect in galvanizing support for the U.S. entry into WW II.








THE ‘REAL’ UNLIKELY ORIGINS OF LOST’S DHARMA INITIATIVE


Disney was quickly convinced of the importance of Project Z. He was also a visionary, one of the first to recognize the potential of TV. Walt suggested this new medium would be a better venue given the 50 years time frame they were looking at. (5) He also renamed their joint effort the Dharma Initiative. He’d learned a little about eastern religions in Los Angeles, and had been impressed by the Dharma concept. Knowing he would most probably not live long enough to see this effort come to fruition, he began involving his young nephew Roy E. Disney (photo below) in his plans from the time Roy was a teenager. He instilled in him the importance of seeing it through once the Zeta proof was available.




Over the next 12 years they collectively added much to the message the series would convey to the public. The main message-how Zeta functioned and would change science-would be woven into a recursive loop of stories within stories. They also planned to show how people could view the same events very differently. (Likely an Einstein contribution) (6) If the audience couldn’t be brought to understand that the truth/morality of any given situation was always somewhat ambiguous, they would also see no reason Zeta and it’s scientific advances should not be used to subdue their enemies; the ‘others.’ To show the error of this viewpoint, various groups and characters would be presented at first as sympathetic, and then a dark side would emerge. Conversely, some would appear hostile-think dwarf ‘Grumpy’ or LOST’s ‘Sawyer-’ until their motives/background/actions would later render them more redeemable. For in reality, we all have aspects of light and dark, a prevailing theme on LOST. Their hope was that in the process of revealing Zeta’s potential, they could simultaneously develop international understanding of all ‘others’ by showing through this drama how their actions and intentions could so easily be misperceived. (7)


After WWII Von Neumann had also became part of Einstein and Gödel’s Zeta collaboration at the IAS. It was through his influence that ideas about zero sum games became part of the DI. The Zeta proof would not be available for several decades at least, when Walt’s nephew Roy Disney would take over. Roy would later be influenced by Von Neumann’s notes regarding how Game Theory could be used by the DI, and misused by others. “In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.”


BOTH DHARMA FOUNDERS DIE MYSTERIOUSLY



Three years after the four men’s last meeting in 1951 at Princeton, Turing would be dead. It happened just 16 days before his 42nd birthday. His death was caused by his eating an apple laced with cyanide, as did Snow White. It was labeled a suicide by British police. There are numerous skeptics regarding their conclusion. ( 8 )

Turing in 1951, shortly before last DI meeting.




Some 23 years after Turing’s death, Kurt Gödel, the last of the DI founders, would also perish under very strange circumstances. It seems he was convinced there were powerful forces who wanted him dead. He never specified who, out of fear they would learn he knew and feel compelled to act. During his last year alive, Gödel believed those after him would poison his food, as they had Turing’s. He finally died of starvation in 1978, while still living in Princeton. It would later be claimed he had gone insane.


A GENERATIONAL TRANSFER: DHARMA 2010


Walt had continued to work with Gödel until his heart attack in 1966. He was known to have met with many physicists during the early ‘50’s, ostensibly to get advice for his educational programs on space exploration. Some claimed he seemed to have motives beyond outer space, but Disney never commented on these rumors. He is seen below with Wernher von Braun in 1954.



While lacking his younger brother Walt’s total enthusiasm for the DI, Roy O. Disney took steps to insure it would go on after his death. Walt had 2 daughters but no son. Roy became the heir apparent to carry on the DI, and his initiation into the project began while still in his teens.

As coincidence would have it, one other grand ‘nephew’ also became a major player in the DI. Ernst Lindelöf (9) established an important hypothesis on Riemann’s work in 1904. 100 years later, one of his brothers’s great grandchildren, Damon, long intrigued by his great uncle’s fascination with Zeta, become one of the key players in the final stage of the DI. He would write much of the script designed to reveal the possibilities of the Zeta proof to the public, while showing how groups of people could logically view the same events from a very different perspective. It would be left to him to explain how if Zeta became controlled by any governments, it could make Orwell’s “1984” a reality.





When Roy E. began planning the animated production the DI had outlined, he learned of Lindelöf’s interest in Zeta from JJ Abrams. Damon soon became the head writer. The basic plot he envisioned was a laboratory observed stress test designed to determine human reaction to a series of likely future events. The group of scientists performing the experiment would call their project the Dharma Initiative, consistent with a planned recursion between myth and reality in the story.


The growing tension between Pixar’s new owner Steve Jobs and then Disney CEO Eisner dealt Roy his first major setback. Animist John Lasseter had already begun creating drafts for the various characters on the island, but had to withdraw from assisting Roy further as alienation between his boss and Disney made it impossible for him to keep working on the DI in secret. Roy finally decided he would proceed with a live show instead of animation. He later came to deeply regret doing so, as the costs became so high they could not be hidden from the Disney Board.

Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, and John Lasseter-Pixar’s Big 3



Walt and his older brother couldn’t have imagined the Disney Empire of today, worth over 54 Billion dollars. CEO Michael Eisner only learned of the ‘off the books’ Dharma project back 2003, and was justifiably livid about all the money invested in it without his knowledge. Before the show even aired, Lloyd Braun, (below) the Director of Programming at ABC who had clandestinely been working with Roy on DI, was fired. He left only his voice behind: “Previously, on LOST…”



The reason given publicly for axing Braun was cost overruns on the pilot for LOST. Insiders at ABC say the antagonism began long before that. It was also rumored that the novel “The Manhattan Beach Project” (05) by former ABC screenwriter Peter Lefcourt, was partly a parody of a real hidden project at ABC. Lefcourt’s fictional ABCD was an off-the-books production studio in nearby Manhattan Beach. It was sheltered by layers of bureaucratic camouflage by ABC to protect parent company Disney. (Below, Peter Lefcourt (left) and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner)





Roy Disney had won round 1 of the battle to fulfill the DI. Working behind the scenes through intermediaries, he got the program now called “LOST” into production. Later, when he led the Disney Board in removing Michael Eisner as Disney CEO, there was much speculation about his real motives and timing. But it was a hollow victory, as the compromise Roy had to make to keep the real Dharma hushed up was that Robert Iger would succeed Eisner as CEO, and that Eisner would remain on the Board.


It is not my current belief that Eisner or Iger have acted out of anything but rational concern about preventing potential threats to the corporate image of Disney. Still miffed about how Roy began the DI project behind their backs, they continued out of the loop on this ongoing off the books operation. When the later LE ARG (alternate reality game) featured false web sites and a plot that revolved around illegally taking over various electronic transmissions, brows in Burbank were raised. And when ‘independent players’ started joining the game, further steps were taken to both distance ABC and end the LE. As Iger was allegedly quoted regarding ARG: “It’s a #=& hacker’s wet dream!” (Disney CEO Robert Iger below)




If our ‘dark side’ is able to control the content in cyberspace, then we will have no way of really communicating with the ‘others’ across our troubled sky island. The pioneers who began our Lost Quest over 6 decades ago will have been defeated by a real, ‘mirror’ Hanso Foundation, and public opinion will be manipulated and controlled as never before. Hanso has many subsidiaries. For one example of the kind of activities they engage in to manipulate public opinion, check this out.


ZETA HYPOTHESIS PROVEN?


Perdue Math Professor Louis de Branges was spotted dining with Roy Disney at the Fork in the Road tavern near Cork Ireland in 2005, a year after he put his yet to be verified proof on the university website. Is he working with both Louis and Zeta Grid’s Sebastian to get the answer in time to work into the Lost plot? Does it have something to do with the producers renewing the cast contracts for another 3 seasons? Or the ‘limited edition’ strategy, postponing the shows end until 2010?


Roy Disney at home in Cork, and Louis de Branges.



Knowing both Gödel and Turing had died under such suspicious circumstances, Roy E. Disney believed he had to introduce the promised Zeta solution into his show with utmost secrecy. JJ, Damon and the creative team had done a great job turning vision to plot, and maintaining the secrets. Despite financial cutbacks and a fall in the U.S. ratings, LOST had a die-hard fan base in the 18-34 demographic and was still very popular internationally and online. Still, the “Limited Edition”-16 episodes instead of 22-was the best compromise Roy could get to regain the show’s quality in the face of rising costs and declining revenues.

This brings us to what is really going on right now. Has the Zeta Hypothesis been secretly proven? Does the joint computer project envisioned by Turing now exist? (10) Will the initiative begun over 60 years ago ever be brought to fruition on the current show? Is there any actual connection with reality? Are there forces within our own government which have found the Zeta proof and will now use it to control the internet and listen in on all forms of electronic communication? Homeland Security? Or, are the ‘dark forces’ really just human greed and a willingness to do whatever will generate the most profit? What exactly IS a pentangle?



FAITH AND SCIENCE AS SYMBOLS


The Pentangle has a long history and many meanings. It derives from the Greek pentagrammon. Translation: ‘5 lines.’ But before the word, came the symbol. It was first found in what is now Iraq, along with the earliest evidence of a written language. It was carbon-dated to roughly 5 thousand 5 hundred years ago.


A Pentangle’s 5 lines create 5 twin triangles, and a regular Pentagon in the center. All 5 of the Pentagon’s sides are equal (as are the lines of the Pentangle) and the angles are all exactly 108 degrees. It contains the Golden Ratio, where the sum of the quantities and the larger quantity is the same as the ratio between the larger quantity and the smaller. Like a geometric fantasy, it both multiplies and divides into infinity. Think infinite mathematical Matroshka doll. An excellent explanation of this phenomenon can be found here. It considers the spiritual and spatial dimensions of Pentangles from a scientific viewpoint.


More commonly know as a pentagram, this symbol has played a considerable role in the spiritual realm going back to ancient times. It is embraced by both theists and Satanists, Druids and Christians. The mystical meaning of this symbol changes simply by inverting it, while the geometric properties remain unchanged. The pentangle below on the left represents light, the one on the right darkness. Yet the two are vertical mirrors and have the exact same physical and mathematical properties.

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Notice how the vortexes of the next 3 pictures below loop within and beyond one another. A prolonged, relaxed gaze at the images in the center, taking in the ones on either side with your peripheral vision, may give the reader a more intuitive comprehension of how our universe is constructed than words or numerical symbols; a visual primer for ‘String Theory?’ Cliffs Pics?



______________________________________________


My debt to all who have made thoughtful replies to the ongoing creation of this thread is greater than most posters for good reason. Many of their comments have been and will continue to be incorporated into the plot. Recursion is a recurring theme here, and to understand you must think recursively. I have employed several drawings of Escher to explain this concept in Pentangle. The Escher work that best demonstrates how I am structuring this plot, with the threads looping back into the overall story and changing it, appears below. Please send your coincidences, analysis, and critiques.
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CAN YOU LEND A HAND?



THE PATTERNS OF RECURSION


This entire conjecture is recursive in its structure, emulating both the plot of LOST and the universe itself. Recursion is a process where the very steps that construct it enable a rerunning of each one when you reach the end of an included set.


A recursive menu for a four course meal, for example, would be one in which each of the choices, appetizer, salad, entrée, or dessert, could include one that was an entire meal unto itself. So, say we begin with a shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, veal parmesan, and a four course meal for dessert. This dessert would consist of crab cakes, Waldorf salad, a four course meal entree, and chocolate mousse for dessert. Next would be say clams on the half shell, a 4 course meal including escargot, spinach salad, lobster ravioli, and baked Alaska. See the pattern? You would continue eating until each of the meals within a meal was completed, terminating in this case with a four course meal appetizer. However, it would only halt there if a termination point was also established. Otherwise, it could go on forever. Most sites use such a loop for their topic menus. Two excellent examples of this type of occurrence, where there is no established termination point, appear in Escher’s art below.





Gnu is the free-source software that runs this site and much of the internet. Its creation has an interesting history, which may well appear in a later theoretical ‘course.’ Its name represents a recursive acronym. Gnu stands for Gnu’s Not Unix. Get it? If not, it’s probably best to stop reading here. We may reach into a realm of apophenic circularity that has no termination loop and thereby spin off into cyber eternity. You and I have no clue as to which ‘course’ we are on in the loop cycle, or how long ago it began. We do know Richard M. Stallman begat the GNU.

A Gnu deep in thought, trying to remember what page Pentangle is now on.


DEJA VOUS: A NEW APPROACH


Nearly all theories in this forum analyze events we have witnessed on LOST and then predict how they will tie in to the ultimate plot. They must assume many things in doing so, including that there is a script out there that will in fact weave all the ‘threads’ together. It is my contention here that in fact there is a far more intricate plan for our Lost future in the realm of Big Mouse.


Consider this: what if all goes according to this initially envisioned ‘master plot’ and at the end of season 5 we have answers to all the countless questions about the significance of events on the show? Then what? Examining whose ideas were closest to what played out would go on a while, but soon get old. Meanwhile, all those hours so many here have spent writing out their thoughts would be finally, irrevocably, part of what was Lost? No more mystery to unravel, no more revenue from online sales at websites based on the show. Now ask yourself why they would want to do that.


There was much discussion on the boards during and after season one about the similarities in LOST with the work of David Lynch. He had produced “Twin Peaks,” the first TV phenomenon where a popular mystery leaped off the screen and into the public discourse. This was long before the internet, and the discussions were dubbed ‘water-cooler conversations;’ what workers talked about during their breaks. The biggest question on this show was who killed Laura Palmer. It was similar to what and where is the island on LOST.


Laura Palmer Homecoming Queen and autopsy photos




Lynch believed firmly that the answer to the shows key mystery should never be revealed, even at the very end. But in season two he caved in to pressure from ABC. The network execs were anxious to comply with demands by the public for an answer, so he provided one; Laura’s killer was named. Soon afterwards the shows ratings declined dramatically, and ABC cancelled it at the end of the second season without even trying to provide any conclusion to the story. A petition by fans motivated them to put together a 6 episode ending. Lynch had left, and it was considered a major let-down. Like much of what will follow in this conjecture, this is history, not fiction.


It would appear Disney execs learned their lesson all too well from their Twin Peaks fiasco. Now as new mysteries pile up, many old ones go unanswered. The ratings and the networks overall ad income is in decline across the board, while the number of new media outlets goes ballistic and growing numbers compete for ‘eyeball time.’ Can anyone imagine there isn’t much debate going on in Burbank regarding what path the show should pursue? LOST has too major a budget to be allowed to drift into cult status, as did Star Trek. Isn’t it likely their focus on profit could become an over-riding factor on just how LOST proceeds as opposed to the desires of the writers? Ask David Lynch.





Please remember this Pentangle is a recursive conjecture with 5 distinct points formed by 5 ‘lines’ of connection. These include LOST, the LE ARG, a metaverse update of “The Godgame,” and LOST fan sites. One has yet to be named. Remember Jack having the number 5 tattooed on his arm and the story he told to Kate in their very first scene together? About counting to 5 when stressed out? This but one line, half of two points on the pentangle. Like all that is lost, it is ambiguous and cryptic. Just like our being told the pilot contains some important clues. Which ‘pilot’ did they have in mind? Was it the two episode intro, or the pilot within the pilot who was flying the plane, or both?



RECURSING GODGAMES


The LOST Zeta Abbott?




In 1884, Edwin Abbott wrote “Flatland.” His story was about a two dimensional world in which there were no horizontal objects, or even the concept of such. A classic in both mathematics and literature, it was inspired by Bernard Riemann’s essays on geometrics, which later became theorems. Einstein used this new geometry instead of Euclid’s in formulating his Relativity Theory.


Gilbert Keith Chesterton (below) wrote “The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown” in 1904. It was about networks of people creating Alternate Reality Games. As the first widely read story about a group staging ARGs, it is considered the modern genesis of all that followed. What eventually evolved into the LOST LE is but one of the more recent manifestations of this phenomenon, migrating from the airwaves onto the web. And in yet another recursion, ARGs began online long before the networks took notice.





Years after Chesterton’s story appeared, in 1965 John Fowles’ “The Magus” was published. Most of the story revolves around a mysterious part of a remote Mediterranean island. Maurice Conchis is a wealthy Greek with a nefarious past. In his isolated villa, he creates surrealistic reality plays, employing an international network of brilliant scientists, actors, adventurers and thinkers: game masters all. They learn and instruct by observing selected individuals who are not aware they are part of an ongoing experiment. The name this revived illuminati of ancient Greece gave their program for the manipulation of individuals to acquire knowledge beneficial to all mankind, was “The Godgame.”


John Fowles Portrait



In his mid thirties, Roy read “The Magus.” It had a profound impact on his thinking regarding how to proceed with the DI. Those familiar with “the Godgame” in Magus will see many similarities with LOST. This also applies to “Twin Peaks” In both it and “The Magus,” ‘the waiting room’ is a major harbinger of things to come. LOST supposedly takes place on an island. In “The Magus” the Him-Maurice Conchis-is also on an island. There his alternate reality plays were conducted. These always involved one selected test subject who was unaware he/she was the central character in an elaborate play, with many actors. They were all part of a much larger, international underground network of scientists and intellectuals, orchestrated by Conchis.



WHERE ARG’S BEGIN/END?


The first LOST websites up were an instant success. Soon they sprouted like prime numbers in a ‘Lie.’ The prime example of an independent website which flourished with the growing interest in discussing the show online is the one named for the numbers. Yet this being a fan site for a show featuring the most disingenuous group of strangers to ever be thrown together, there was suspicion that many of the sites hinting they were connected were not, while others disclaiming any affiliation with ABC seemed questionable given a series of perhaps coincidental connections.


Even if you were among the majority of fans who never followed the officially sanctioned ARG launched by ABC on May 5, ’06, you have nevertheless had your online experience affected by it. New theories started to be based on it regarding events on the island. Soon it was receiving many interesting new posts from first time users as well as others stepping in and providing an incredible level of tech savvy support. The aspect of the whole project I found fascinating was how many variations immediately emerged from the cyber mist. Countless new websites, most pretenders to the ‘official’ ARG, sprang up overnight. Individuals were spinning yarns amidst videos on Utube. The line between the ‘real fiction’ and the ‘fictional realities’ began to blur.


Have you ever considered the possibility there was an underground LOST ARG that began before the official one and has continued ever since? A game hidden within all the ones we know? Might you have passed over some of the visible link trails these digital ‘others’ accidentally left behind? Do these cyber-others have their own collective agenda? One that is both peaceful and rational, with a constructive intent? One that disclaims any ties and will only be proven false if it turns out it IS connected to ABC? Two mirrors reflecting one another? No spoilers here, I assure you. Just keep in mind a Pentangle has 5 distinct angles, as does this story.


What I found most surprising about that spike of activity during the ARG period was that apparently no one had any suspicions that some of the more helpful users were in fact hired by Big Mouse to ensure things ran smoothly; to elevate and subtly direct the dialogue. Wouldn’t it make sense on so many levels for ABC to do so? And in a world of the connected aspiring to deny it while the unconnected try and imply it, who do you trust? Does it matter? And if whatever game being played turns out to be more interesting than the ‘official’ one? A plot far more engaging than what the creative team, which must serve many masters, finally comes up with?


Are not all who post speculations here about LOST becoming players in an ARG in some way? You put your thoughts into words and send them into cyberspace for all to see and respond to. There are many layers in this onion, from simple observations to complex connections between the real and the abstract. This thread will push the envelope in many ways. Those seeking easy explanations will not find them here. The chain of coincidence that I shall weave is a true exercise in creating a fantasy/reality recursion.





Here’s just one example of a pentangular recursion. I came across the Abbott/flatland connection via a link sent in as a reply. It’s title is Flatland by Edwin Abbott. The author of that topic is ‘Fire Walk With Me.’ This was also the title of the prologue and epilogue to “Twin Peaks” that Lynch produced after leaving ABC. The protagonist of the entire TP series was Agent Dale Copper. Now, after not appearing here since last October, the sudden return of Fire Walk With Me, who earlier wrote some excellent theories including the one about Flatland. Dale Cooper was the protagonist in Twin Peaks, and Fire Walk With Me was the title of it’s finale. Clearly I’m not the only ‘ghost’ in this little opera.


4 TRAIL BLAZING ANALYSTS WITH UNIQUE PROFILES IN LOSTOSPHERE


THE ULTIMATE LOST THEORIST



To date the most widely read of all LOST theorists is the somewhat enigmatic fan from the UK. His name is nearly anonymous, hidden within the vast numbers who share it; Andrew Smith. His “Ultimate Theory” garnered well over a million views and counting. Many, however, still believe the ‘mass consciousness’ concept he introduced in UT was really a clue. ‘Andrew Smith,’ some thought, was just a pseudonym the LOST creative team used for running new ideas up the flagpole with their fans.


During the second season of LOST speculation increased about Smith. His “Ultimate Theory” got a fair amount of ink from ‘Fleet Street,’ and led large numbers of fans to 4815162342.com, the only site where he posted it. Later the owner of 48 mentioned in an interview that he and Smith were friends, further fueling rumors on various threads, including Smiths. One user noted: “It would really be soo JJ! Just as Edward De Veer hired that rube from Stratford Avon to front for him, JJ picked some IT guy with an extremely common name to pose as the author of some of the creative teams innovations. This was a precaution in case someone from The Guardian started asking awkward questions about who this guy was.” Smith claimed in reply that he was not nearly talented enough for his ideas to be confused with the professional writers on LOST. His ‘evil twin’ wrote right afterwards that “this would be exactly what Lindelöf or Cuse would say if they were sending him the scripts, innit?”


“You've murdered your vanity, buried your sanity
For pleasure you must now resist.
Lovers obey you but they cannot sway you
They're not even sure you exist.”

From “Just Who is Andrew Smith” (Theories Forum)




Finally Smith responded to these barbs by putting his passport photo (below) on page 31 of the ‘ultimate’ thread. Yet even this didn’t convince some. It was noted that he could be still be just fronting for Burbank, even if he was a ‘real’ Andrew Smith. This argument again gained some traction when he declined to be interviewed on the season 3 DVD set.




It seems a new mini-theory was launched in Smith’s “Seventh Seal Theory” by a long time fan of his writing, Andy’s Evil Twin. He speculated on “Seventh Seal” that Smith is in fact Alan Turing, still quite lucid in his nineties. His suicide faked by the Secret Service to protect him from Russian kidnap attempts, he is now emerging in cyberspace as Smith to direct the project he began 6 decades ago.


Those who have read Pentangle’s footnotes on the details of Turing’s death may find all this a tad more plausible. His ‘evil twin’ suggests Alan could have altered the online passport photo, changing dates and inserting an old picture from his youth. Decide for yourself. The picture on the left is definitely Turing, taken when he was in his thirties. I realize how far fetched this is, but it would be such a great story. As I happened to catch that reply, I couldn’t resist adding it in as yet another bizarre coincidence though somewhat off ‘point.’ You must admit they do have many similar features. Another coincidence? Most probably.


The second LOST theorists who made unique contributions to the online experience of the show considered in Pentangle is quite different in style and persona than Smith. Many have speculated over time he might actually be working for ABC. Smith has consistently denied he had any connection, and has been very forthcoming about his offline identity.
This is not the case with the poster that has been second only to Andrew in generating interest in his ideas. He never steps out of his cryptic persona online, and all that is known about him is based on interpretations from his poetry. The Fuselage, where he calls home, is the only site sponsored by JJ Abrams and the LOST creative team. He is generally known there as Captain Tiberius.

___________

INSIDER, INSPRIRER, OR LOST NOSTRADAMUS?




A TALE TIMES TWO

It was the best of times
It was the worst of times
A Tale Times Two
Religion or Philosophy
Belief or Experience
Faith or Science
Science Fact or Science Fiction
Natural or Supernatural
Two look at the One
Yet two views are seen
The Answer
Yes

This is Your story
The Story of Man.
You write the End !

The Black Rock is in front of you
Look Deep
See Your Truth
Tiberius

The above post by Tiberius was made on the Fuselage in 2005. The “Tale of Two Cities” episode on LOST was aired over a year later. This is but one in a string of deja vous examples garnered from his prose. Such have led his followers there to believe that he either has insider knowledge of where the plot is heading, or that the writers are reading his comments and giving them a nod-as they did Stephen King with “Carrie”-on the show.

I knew little about Tiberius when I first encountered him here in March 06. Finding his posting style both entertaining and original, I was fascinated by the way other users would start googling and discussing his ambiguous comments. Many seemed to think he had some kind of inside perspective. I saw it more as a ‘Nostradamas Affect,’ where much was said and only that which verified was recalled. But his “Good Father Abrams” prayer really got my attention, for several reasons. I highly recommend looking at this entire thread. Its not long.

It had occurred to me early on watching the season one DVD set that this was a show with the potential to really educate a wide swath of people all across the globe. Now for the first time international viewers would be exposed to a mutual observation of others trying to cope with a complex series of unknowns. Via the internet, they could share their perceptions of all that happened. Most people will not read the books containing the important facts and numbers that will determine their destiny. They will watch an engaging TV show that subtly brings these issues to the screen through the reactions and decisions of the characters. Add much mystery, mingled with all the unknowns of our reality to the discussions online from all over the world, and you have a platform capable of facilitating our understanding of others.

Morphus posted “Good Father Abrams” on 4/01/02, his last new topic on this site. The thread was locked on 4/28/06. Yet it still has more views than any other topic in the Abrams Forum, other than the stickys. It didn’t seem to make sense when I first read it a few weeks later, but I knew there must have been a reason. In the following months I acquired some clues elsewhere-which will be revealed later-surrounding the perfect storm of coincidences that occurred in this topic earlier. They eventually led me to the Fuselage, where Tiberius reigns supreme. His last ever post on this site appears below. He registered under the name Morphus here, but usually signed his messages as Tiberius. Based on his posts, his fans in a sticky thread called “Loyal to the Quest” have deduced he is retired from the military and now works in private industry. His user name is Tiberius there, but he often signs as The Blacksmith of Mars.

It seems increasingly unlikely that the Lost cyber-island is heading in the direction envisioned by Tiberius back then, using the show as a metaphor on the many similar dilemmas we face confronting us here on our 3-D island.

Four go forth
The Dog
The Scorpion
The Snake
The Raven
Once more through the Shadow of the Valley.
Yet that which is found is the Virgo
Is it Miranda
Or is it Persephone ?


The above is another ’05 Fuselage post by Tiberius, long before Persephone appeared on the ARG. This prose also plays a role in the Pentangle. It is interesting to note a user registered the name Persephone on 3/20/06 on this site, 42 days before her LE debut. And kmduke, the user who so capably orchestrated the ARG forum here, signed on 3/02/06, another mirror number coincidence. There are countless others, involving different users and posts. Many shall be covered here in future updates. Most likely this is all but an exercise in apophenia. As always readers will decide for themselves. For those who would like to read more of the prose of Tiberius, you’ll find most of them here, and the 43 he posted on this site here. The next user to be featured will be our own Dr. Z, who many consider the best ‘all around player’ by far. His latest theory-his consummate effort, can be found here.


Many more Tiberius posts, all in chronological order, can be found in the links below. They are lovingly prepared by one of his many disciples, and some are extremely well crafted. Many, such as those posted above, foreshadow later events on the show. I highly recommend starting with his 05 works. Some very intriguing reading can be found here.

2005 = http://longlostlist.net/questforanswers/viewforum.php?f=21
2006 = http://longlostlist.net/questforanswers/viewforum.php?f=11
2007 = http://longlostlist.net/questforanswers/viewforum.php?f=50


Dr. Z; THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST?




Now we come to a user who has only been on board just a little over one year yet has over 8 thousand posts. The quantity here is far less impressive than the quality, though of course this is subjective. His screen name is Zombie_Soiree, and he signs off as Z. Some began calling him ‘Dr. Z’ when they learned from replies by others he had a PhD from Princeton. Yes, the same Princeton where this Pentangle began. He signs off at the bottom left of each post as Z. As in Riemann’s Zeta Hypothesis?


Active in the Role Play games in the VIP forum, ‘Z’ can be found all over the different boards. Some of his best analysis was done in The Valenzetti Countdown Theory posted by Manoover. The detail they brought to bare in their exchanges and with others make it one of 4815162342.com’s land mark threads. Later, he got into some extensive debates with Andrew Smith, which also became part of the LOST Cognoscenti legend.


If Z is on Big Mouse’s payroll, he would be a bargain at double what they would likely pay him. Being a skeptic, the first question I asked myself after discovering this cornucopia of well articulated ideas was; how did we get so lucky? Yet so convincing is his digital performance even I believe he probably is exactly as he presents himself; an avid fan of the show who enjoys working with others in piecing together the puzzle that is LOST. In the course of his activity he has matched wits with many other very bright individuals, and generated numerous insightful exchanges.


The links below take you to the start of just a few highlight discussions initiated by Z. The topic titles are my own. They indicate the related segment of the thread around which a particular dialectic was based. These represent just a sampler of his extensive writing. To find other posts by Dr.Z just click Z link. Verstehen Sie? I would also recommend reading some of his replies on Pentangle. Regarding these replies, it continues to amaze me just how long and pointy that right base of the Bell Curve is. Most gifted people are adrift and isolated. Simple logic predicts they will inevitably end up spending far more time instructing those with slower processing abilities than they do receiving new ideas. Thanks to the WWW, now the brilliant can share their many thoughts with a much larger group; perhaps it will become another vehicle for Regression Towards the Mean.


Finding a way to keep these intensive dialogues audible above the clamor of the chatter is the true challenge that faces those who would see it not be all Lost. When I first posted this thread I had attempted to eliminate some of the ‘noise’ from users who resent any discussions which consider abstract concepts surrounding LOST. I later realized this was futile. Just scroll down and seek out the better replies. They continue for several pages, and constitute the most thorough examination on this site of two key themes; Faith versus Science.


Z and Andrew Smith agree on likely meaning/resolution of LOST numbers.

Beginning of Faith versus Science debate with Andrew Smith in Seventh Seal

Z’s latest theory-his crowning achievement- Changing the Course of Man is a must read for serious theorists.


I would love to see some enterprising user paste together a new topic that would present some of this forum’s best debates. Much could be learned from having access to the “meat” of these exchanges without the distracting off-topic replies and ad homenum attacks. At the end of the day, the incredible amount of well written analysis of LOST may prove to be its greatest legacy.


NEXT..ON PENTANGLE…


If anyone has suggestions on other significant theorists that should be considered please let me know in a reply. Also, if you have other thoughts about how this conjecture might be improved or questions about it, I’d like to read them. And if you haven’t already done so, please check out Pentangle.


Hopefully many key questions will soon be addressed: Will Roy Disney prevail? Will the benefits of Zeta given to the general public as his uncle dreamed? Will the resulting open source net enable all voices to be heard? Can this engaging show become an effective vehicle for analyzing the many dilemmas now confronting us on island Earth? Or, will all be simply…Lost?


While I encourage comments from other users, please DO NOT post any replies to this thread. It is long and will get much longer, so all new updates will be posted first in the Pentangle Prologue and later added here. As the two are segments of the same story, I wish to avoid having both on Page 1 of the Theories Forum. So if you wish to make a reply or ask a question, please do so in the Prologue. I realize this may be confusing, and hope the irony will not be Lost.


All this jumping around in time and the flashbacks should make most Losties feel right at home. But I should warn you I will make subtle changes to the text of the updates, as I’m doing now. It shouldn’t be a problem, as I doubt very many will read this in entirety for quite some time. All our words launched into the metaverse may likely become Lost. Some, a fractional few, may prove to be that message in the digital bottle, read by others years from now as lore from the primitive cyber-dawn. Who knows?

FOOTNOTES

_______________________________________________________The Lies shall reveal the truth.________________________________________
The watchers continue to observe the observers, in LOST and the metaverse. A loop from the show into our reality? Someone is always watching, and someone else is watching them? This is truly the great thing about LOST sites. We learn so much along the way of our analysis of a mutually observed sequence of complex events about each other and people in general. If no final answers are ever provided, as Lynch had planned with Twin Peaks, will not this enable the dialogue to continue? Or will another opportunity and all the interesting theories about the show and life be simply……..LOST? Starting to look that way, and I may soon give up continuing this thread. Life is just a game, and even the winners don’t get alive at the end.

[gudge]

id love to read this but iv had a bit too much to smoke

[hazemedaan]

[diegetic charlie]

Catch 22, it can't ever be proven. The show ends with no mention of zeta or anything that you've just mentioned and you say "well that's just because THEY won."

Congratulations.
_________________
LINDELOF: Yes, our goal is if we can't end spectacularly at least we'll fail spectacularly.

[Tuesday]

JJ Abrahams has stated in an interview with Attack of the Show on G4 that they do not have the answers for every question yet, but they have the answers for the main questions such as Smokie and why they are there. The reason why they don't have the answers for certain questions is because they need to keep them open so they can keep the story fresh by introducing new characters and tieing in new flashbacks.
_________________

^Click it to go to my Myspace.^

[lunasea11]

zzzzzzzzz.zzzzzzzzzzzzz.zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Turing's Ghost]

My sincere apologies to those who felt they wasted their reading this long topic. I should have post the ZZZ alert before in the intro. I can't give back the time you lost' but I do truly regret being the cause. Time flies.

Re: digetic charlie- you make a valid point, but in doing so i'm afraid it indicates you might have missed the one I am trying to make here. Do feel free to Google the events I mention, and the word apophenia.

Re: Tuesday-thanks for the reply, and a question for you. Might not Zeta be one of the missing factors alluded to in that interview? I appreciate your pointing it out though, as I missed that one.

Re: L-next time you have trouble falling asleep, read this again!

[darthtarkin09]

[Rogue Other]

Great way to demonize the first 6 episodes of Lost. I thought they were great, a major improvement in quality, and you're telling me that those episodes were the sign of dark forces trying to ruin Lost?

Sheesh. So, how do you think Zeta is going to surface in the plot? After all, 4 8 15 16 23 42 has to do with the end of the world, not code-breaking. Or was the meaning of the numbers created by the dark forces...?

I don't really know what to think of all this.

[lostinka]

Whoa! This is far beyond general fandom...
_________________
Our problem is to discriminate between the real and the make believe.

[Turing's Ghost]

[Rogue Other]

[PSSS]

[Rogue Other]

[Turing's Ghost]

PSSS-Rogue. I think we're being watched by one of the others. Actually I agree with both of you. I think the show's original appeal was based on a certain level of complex unknowns. But as it goes on, if there is too much that can't be explained it will become too difficult for many long time fans to follow if they miss just a few episodes, let alone draw in new users. Do remember it is all about the numbers-bottom line. We have been given some answers, like what Kate was running from, and why the little plane was important to her, to give just 2 examples. Yet there seems to be a growing belief online that more needs to be explained so the plot can move on and be comprehensible to larger numbers of viewers.

I'm not a TV critic, and don't feel qualified to rate the artistic content of any individual episode. I mostly look at the numbers. Lost was at #78 last I saw, and the number of viewers on all the sites such as this is way down, and were even before the break. Is it not concievable part of the problem that the awaited Zeta Hypothesis proof has yet to be delivered? They're stalling? Not sure how to proceed without the proof? Perhaps it has already been comandered by the NSA?

My conjecture? The struggle for control continues, and even if Sebastian has the proof, he may be reluctant to hand it over until there is no doubt Roy will be capable of carrying out his end. Next, on Lost....