LOST - The significance of Wallace and the number 108

If you've seen the LOST episode “Lighthouse” that just showed that it was Wallace scribbled on the lighthouse dial at 108 degrees.


Wallace as in David Wallace, a philosopher of physics at Oxford University.
Someone pointed out David Wallace posited the Many Worlds Observation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation (note that this leads back to “Schrodinger’s Cat theory!”)



PDF of his theory:
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/quant-ph/pdf/0211/0211104v1.pdf

Lest you forget, this epsiode was also the debut of a character named David.


This ties into my time travel theory I posed back in February 2008 and recently on my blog as well, so I think it is most definitely a search for an observer of sorts.

Usually, once quantum events are observed, one of the alternate timelines will cease to exist. But the Many Worlds theory expounds this to matter at a greater level than the quantum level.

And even more for you to chew on:



Does this look familiar? This is from Season 2. Every 108 seconds they had to press the button.



On yesterday’s episode, they were supposed to turn the dial to 108 degrees, but Jack broke what I refer to as “the looking glass” (ala Alice in Wonderland) in the lighthouse. Notice Wallace is at 108 degrees.



4 + 8 + 15 + 16 + 24 + 32 = .... you guessed it .... 108.

And if you're counting, this was the 108th episode.

So, the writers have been hinting at the Many World's since Season 2. As of yesterday’s episode they’ve pointed us to Wallace.

I've said all this to explain the significance of Wallace. Who will Mr/Mrs. Wallace actually be? I have no clue.

But, this also brings up another good point:

The piece of music that David was playing is the same music that Faraday attempted to play.

But Faraday couldn't remember how to play the song.

Also, guess what school Faraday taught at? Oxford. The same school the real world person (not LOST character) David Wallace teaches at.

So once again, they are trying to give us a hint here - they're tying "The Variable" episode to "The Lighthouse episode" and letting us know our theory is a valid one. 108 has significance. Wallace has significance.

The Wallace character is very significant to the LOST timeline, if only to alert us to the fact that their is most likely a "Many Worlds" scenario here.

On another related tangent, I believe somebody has to "observe" to negate a timeline. I believe that is the point of the candidate.

- Luis
aka funkytaco

Time Travel is possible (black holes, white holes) - My LOST related post

Please note, this was my prediction of how LOST would have an Alternate Timeline back in February 2008. I posted this on a public forum here. I'm reposting this as it has become relevant as of the LA X, season premiere of the final season of LOST. While this is not entirely accurate, I'm wondering how much will be relevant by season's end.

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Originally Posted Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:01 pm
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Okay, first of all, time travel is too big to wrap my head around other than Einstein's "Time Travel for Dummies" explanation.


For reference images:
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/GenRelativity.html

The Flow of Spacetime
Imagine space (a rubber sheet pulled tight), a big mass (bowling ball sitting on rubber sheet), and a smaller mass (a baseball).

Quote:

The large ball will cause a deformation in the sheet's surface. A baseball dropped onto the sheet will roll toward the bowling ball. Einstein theorized that smaller masses travel toward larger masses not because they are "attracted" by a mysterious force, but because the smaller objects travel through space that is warped by the larger object. Physicists illustrate this idea using embedding diagrams.

ESSENTIALLY:
If you are on Mass A and pass Mass B, you may be able to time travel (because time on Mass B, is going slower than time on Mass A).


[SKIPME IF YOU KNOW THIS]
The Flow of Spacetime
Explanation #2 for how space bends time.


Another way of thinking of the curvature of spacetime was elegantly described by Hans von Baeyer. In a prize-winning essay he conceives of spacetime as an invisible stream flowing ever onward, bending in response to objects in it s path, carrying everything in the universe along its twists and turns.

This is a basic postulate of the Theory of General Relativity. It states that a uniform gravitational field (like that near the Earth) is equivalent to a uniform acceleration.

What this means, in effect, is that a person cannot tell the difference between (a) standing on the Earth, feeling the effects of gravity as a downward pull and (b) standing in a very smooth elevator that is accelerating upwards at just the right rate of exactly 32 feet per second squared.
[/SKIPME IF YOU KNOW THIS]


Black / White ... Opposites have meaning
Black & White pebbles carried by Adam & Eve, Science/Faith, Jack/Locke, Losties/The Others, episode Jack meeting his wife/Jack attempting suicide have a lot of mirrored moments.
Could the black & white relate to black holes?

Black Holes / White Holes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hole
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=108

What is a white hole?

The short answer is that a white hole is something which probably cannot exist in the real universe. A white hole will turn up in your mathematics if you explore the space-time around a black hole without including the star which made the black hole (ie. there is absolutely no matter in the solution). Once you add any matter to the space-time, the part which included a white hole disappears.

How can you have a black hole with no mass?

1. Mathematically this is actually the simplest kind of black hole. Once the singularity is set up it will hold itself together, so the tricky part is setting up the singularity.
2. The only way to set up the singularity in the real universe is to start with it being there. Somehow the universe has to form with ready made singularities.

Why can't white holes exist in nature?

1. There is no reason to suggest that the universe started out with ready made singularities. It would actually be quite odd if it did.
2. Once even the tiniest speck of dust enters the part of space-time which includes the black hole, the part which includes the white hole disappears. The universe has been around for a long time and so even if it did start with white holes, they would have all disappeared by now.

Why bother with the solution if it isn't realistic?

1. It's easier than realistic solutions. (!)
2. Part of the solution is close to being realistic. This part does not include the white hole and describes the space-time outside of a normal black hole.

What would a white hole look like if it did exist?

The people/person who came up with the term 'white hole' was actually being quite literal. A white hole is pretty much like an 'anti-black hole'. A black hole is a place where matter can be lost from the universe. A white hole is a place where (if it could exist with any matter in it - which it can't) matter would pop out into the universe. This has many similarities to the Big Bang singularity (although it's not quite the same, since there was nothing before the Big Bang).


I don't really have a theory on this (because I can't wrap my head around it), but I think it needs to be explored.



How does this apply to LOST?
We know Earth has a North Pole, South Pole, and that Earth's axis rotates on this polar axis based on magnetism. We know Desmond can "see the future". We know Charlie has seen himself in Australia (covering an Oasis song, "Save Me", playing an acoustic guitar in Australia).
We know the hatch had a big magnetic device whose purpose we are not sure of at this time. We know "dead people" have been seen.

Speculations which shouldn't be considered fact:

I propose that Desmond isn't seeing the future but is recalling memories from having travelled through time/space when it was bent or something of that nature. Charlie died in the Looking Glass (LOOKING GLASS aka A MIRROR i.e. A PORTAL?) ... so is this place a passage to an alternate reality somehow accessible because time is bent?
Maybe Charlie was communicating with

Alternate Reality Penny... SO THE BOAT IS INDEED HER RESCUE CREW?

*FLIGHT 815 CRASHES WITH NO SURVIVORS IN THIS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE?
*So Alternate Reality Charlie that nuthouse-bound Hurley sees CHEATED DEATH by going to the ALTERNATE UNIVERSE to speak to Hurley?


I don't know there are alot of loose ends which don't make sense, so feel free to write this off as a hokey theory.
_________________


UPDATES:
LOST references to time and time travel:
http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Time_travel

More strength for this theory.

#1. Show Related - Daniel Faraday is a physicist.

Quote:

DAN: I'm a physicist. Well I guess you could call me a physicist, I don't really like being pigeon-holed into one...

#2. Show Related - Daniel Faraday studies how the light bends on the island.

Quote:

DAN: The light, is strange out here isn't it? It's kinda like, it doesn't scatter quite right.

#3. History Related Tie-in - Michael Faraday was a physicist - who dealt alot with magnetism.

Quote:

He succeeded in .... [producing] several new kinds of glass intended for optical purposes. A specimen of one of these heavy glasses afterwards became historically important as the substance in which Faraday detected the rotation of the plane of polarisation of light when the glass was placed in a magnetic field, and also as the substance which was first repelled by the poles of the magnet.

(In other words, he bent light with magnetism, like the quote above by Dan)... this is called the Faraday Effect.


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_effect

We can be sure "The Casimir Effect" is related to this as well.

Casimir effect and wormholes

Exotic matter with negative energy density is required to stabilize a wormhole.[6] Morris, Thorne and Yurtsever[7] pointed out that the quantum mechanics of the Casimir effect can be used to produce a locally mass-negative region of space-time, and suggested that negative effect could be used to stabilize a wormhole to allow faster than light travel.

The bunnies may be from different time lines also (Bunny 15 has a doppelganger).





And as my friend Mike Cassidy noted back in 2008:

the fact that time moves much slower for those on the island than the rest of the world is in einstein's relativity. the more intense gravity is, the slower time moves. they proved this by putting an atomic clock at a low altitude and one at a high altitude, and the one closer to the center of the earth where gravity is heavier, turned a tiny bit slower.

intense electromagnetism can distort gravity. dharma was experimenting with an intense magnet hence the disharging of it every 108 minutes.