Feb

18

The Hatch, Desmond, and Lost Time

Posted by lostfan

February 18, 2008 |

Lost ClockWhile trying to digest everything that episode 4.03, “The Economist” had to offer, I keep coming back to the time difference. Many of the other plot twists, while surprising, were plot based, easily explainable and easy to work through. That darn time dilation… it has me bamboozled.

Here is what we know:

  • Daniel calls for the rocket (he asks for a rocket to be launched on his current position while standing near a helicopter - pretty flaky move. Very Faraday).
  • The rocket doesn’t show up when expected.
  • When it finally shows up, the rocket clock is 31 minutes different.
  • Daniel is very troubled.

What we can assume:

  • The rocket follows some random trajectory or heading.
  • The clocks were synced before launch.

What we don’t know:

  • If the time difference is the same day. The clock would not consider 24 hour increments of time differences. They could be days, weeks, or even months different.
  • If 31 minutes actually passes. That is to say, does Daniel Faraday actually wait around for 31 minutes for the rocket to land, but TV magic passes the time? Or, does a few minutes pass, and there is actually 2 differences in time; the time between when the rocket landed and should have landed, and the 31 minutes as well.

Ok, what seems obvious is that the rocket is somehow slowed during its ascent. I doubt there are any real mathematical equations to deal with this. At the heart of this show, it is still fiction. Also, there are too many variables to manage any real equation (wind speeds, boat distance, rocket weight etc). Therefore, it is safe to assume that the time difference is an illustration of time dilation.

So, WHAT IF… Desmond broke time like I said. The Hatch with the 108 minute countdown was a type of syncing station that kept the time dilation to a minimum or reset it to mach real time. Then when the hatch blew up, time is spinning out of control. Now, the time dilation is out of control, so is the island. The time dilation will eventually consume everything.

OR

Desmond broke time like I said. The Hatch with the 108 minute countdown kept the energy driving the time dilation going, and therefore the island remained hidden and protected. Now that the the hatch is no longer doing its job, the island is at risk because it is no longer hiding. This puts Jacob and the original inhabitants at risk. If the island is found, its secrets and the power they hold will consumer everything.

Either way, I am convinced Desmond is at the heart of this. His actions lead to the unleashing of what ever is happening. Either the island is coming into view, or fading out of it. Either way, I feel it is his fault, and he will have to fix it.


Comments

4 Comments so far

  1. Lost Episode 4.04 “Eggtown” Official Description and Sneak Peeks : Lost on February 19, 2008 10:22 pm

    [...] 4.03 hurt my head. The Sayid and Ben connection, when combined with a touch of Einsteinian Theory of Relativity and a dash of treachery was enough to drive me over the [...]

  2. John on May 8, 2008 8:14 pm

    You forgot one thing. Daniel was in contact with the boat while the rocket was traveling. If the perception of time on the island was different from the outside then they could not have had a “real-time” conversation.
    What really gets me was when the person on the boat claimed that it had landed. Yet we didn’t see the projectile until later.
    Lets entertain that the passage of time is the same but there is a field barrier that sends things to the future. Well in that case the radios would not work. The radio have to send the information through the field in order to have a conversation.
    Back to the boat detecting that the package had arrived. The projectile needs to broadcast its location so that the computer can see where it is. It won’t broadcast its final location until it lands.
    ..Still working on this one

  3. Amy on May 18, 2008 11:32 pm

    I believe this show has a lot to do with Einstein’s theory of time relativity. You can see that by the time difference the island has.
    Remember when Daniel said “The light does not quite scatter?” He is talking in a round about way about the island moving faster than light.
    The man who is traveling faster than light ages slower too.
    Look at Daniel Faraday’s notebook (it talks about Eddington Finklestein’s coordinates, which go hand in hand with Einsteins theory):
    http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/2008/05/episode-4×12-on-beach.html

    I am sort of Lost with all the science but maybe I will catch up in time!

  4. John on July 5, 2008 9:57 am

    That is what I meant by time dilation.
    The conversation with the boat is what threw that off. So if the island was going near the speed of light, the people on the island would see the boat “moving slower” through time and likewise the people on the boat would see the island “moving slower” through time. Each would see the other moving near the speed of light.
    If the passage of time were to be different for either party then they would not be able to hold a conversation like they did. Lets say time on the boat passes 5 times faster than the island. Or 1 second on the island is 5 second on the boat. If the person on the boat sent a 5 second message the people on the island would hear the entire thing in a second.
    The other thing that would throw that off was the projectile. The people on the boat were tracking the object but as soon as it got close enough to the island the transmissions should have been subject to the same effect.
    I don’t mean to hurt the argument but I was hoping someone could help since I’m a little stuck

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