The television program LOST (first broadcast on the United States channel ABC between 2004-2010) includes geodesic domes. I do not intend to say much here about the show other than I have enjoyed it tremendously. The sixth and final season of LOST begins in February 2010. This essay will discuss the geodesic domes appearing in LOST.
To date the dome has been seen in three forms. The first version of the dome is the dome itself, seen in the episode ‘Man of Science, Man of Faith’ on 21 September 2005. This dome is a full-sized set, while the other two are models. It is implied that this dome is a 5/8th-sphere made up of panels with one or more entryways. The second version of the dome is a model of the completed dome, seen in the episode ‘Orientation’ on 5 October 2005. This dome is a cutaway model made of panels of a 5/8th-sphere. The second version of the dome is a model of the dome under construction, seen in the episode ‘Namaste’ on 18 March 2009. This dome is an in-progress 5/8th-sphere made of struts. The ‘Man of Science’ dome and another dome appear in the computer game LOST: Via Domus. All of the geodesic domes appearing in LOST are class one, four-frequency, 5/8ths truncated spheres. […]
The narrative of LOST places the construction of these geodesic domes in the mid-1970s. In the mid-1970s Buckminster Fuller was at the height of his popularity and influence. The use of domes in LOST helps establish when the story is taking place and the sympathies of the characters that constructed them.
Was Alan Moore on Oceanic flight 815? It was either him, or someone deliberately meant to look like him (note the rings!). I noticed this guy and commented on him while watching the season premiere, but didn’t think much of it. That is, until I was the above screencap from Bleeding Cool.
What are the chances it was actually him? Well, Moore appeared on The Simpsons and recently name dropped the Sopranos in an interview, so we know he’s not totally adverse to American television.
Fans of ABC’s “Lost” can breathe a sigh of relief.
The millions of viewers eagerly waiting to see what happened to Juliet, Jack, and the Swan station at the end of last season’s cliff-hanger no longer have to worry that the answers to their questions will be delayed because of President Obama’s first State of the Union address.
President Obama will not pre-empt the premiere of the show’s final season, set to air on Tuesday Feb. 2, the White House said today.
There does seem to be different rules involved when it comes to death and the island. It reminds me of both Donnie Darko and The Invisibles. In Donnie Darko dying in the time loop allowed someone to step out of regular time as Frank the Bunny does. From this new position he is able to effect events. Similar effects are in play in The Invisibles comic series by Grant Morrison.
Many characters in Lost seem to stick around and influence events even after death. For the most part they are not shown as physically interacting with the world but guiding people’s actions and it is
implied there is manipulation of probability.
Christian Sheppard, Jack’s father, is the clearest example of afterlife hijinks. He was dead when he arrived on the island but has been influencing events ever since. He was the first mysterious apparition and lead Jack to the fresh water source. He’s never been shown physically interacting with anyone or directly effecting the environment. It is implied that Christian also has a probability
manipulation ability that was being used to Keep Michael alive until he completed his usefulness to the island.
There is also the tendency of the smoke monster to appear to people in the forms of, and with the knowledge of, people who are deceased, such as Eko’s brother or Ben’s daughter Alex. Whether these are truly examples of people existing past their death or just trickery on the part of the smoke monster needs further examples to determine.
Then there are the various deceased characters who interact with Hurley. While the show leaves us the option of believing that his just crazy I think that these apparitions are more like the various forms the smoke monster takes or Christian’s on going actions. Hurley is just more sensitive than normal, this is why he was able to see Jacob’s cabin. The island itself seems to be outside of normal time, as evidenced by the time differential involved in traveling to the boat.
This is to say nothing of John Locke’s return from the dead, which may be a completely different matter. Suffice to say Ben is a little mistaken when he says “Dead is dead.”
Perhaps anyone encountering the island imprints their awareness and form on it along the lines of a back-up drive. That the island functions as a kind of afterlife computer and the smoke monster
screens the bad souls out? An ancient egyptian virus scanner.
Guest Post: Lost Fathers and the Issac Complex
by Edward Wilson
Lost is exploring, or perhaps creating, a non-freudian father issue which I’m going to call the Issac complex. Rather than a sexual trine involving the mother, this father issue centers around the father’s betrayal and abandoning of the child. Psychologically this is very similar territory to that explored by Fight Club. The biblical story of Issac and Abraham is that god asks Abraham to sacrifice or murder his son Issac as an act of faith and that just as he is about to kill his son, God relents in this demand. This story is recounted in Lost.
Character names are very significant in Lost and the ultimate authority on the island is named Jacob, who biblically the son of Issac. Interestingly Jacob seems to have a tendency to turn on and banish his representative leaders. Additionally, Jack’s father, Christian Sheppard is taking over as his spokesperson.
Whereas Fight Club locates the solution to this issue in the creation and assumption of a new image of masculinity, the aggressive trickster figure of Tyler Durden, Lost has thus far shown us two solutions. We
are shown forgiveness and acceptance of the bad dad in Hurley’s story and violent rejection of the betraying father in John Locke and Sawyer’s murder of John’s father.
Given the Gnostic themes of the show it behooves me to point out that the ultimate example of the bad dad theme would be the Gnostic Demiurge or the bad creator god. In Demiurgic Gnosticism the creator god is an evil entity that has trapped us in this creation. The Gnostic Christ, or son, would be expressed in those same two modes, rejection of the Father’s world or forgiveness and redemption of it.
I came across this for the first time a while back, but was reminded of it during the Barcamp PDX LOST session. It’s sounding more and more likely.
LOST has presented us with various themes of fate vs. destiny; however, by the end of the series, we will all be back at the same universal question: Are we completely controlled by fate, or do we have the ability to change what’s already happened in the future?
The LOST series revolves around the use of a quasi-conventional time machine. All of the “mysteries” that the show presents can be explained through an understanding of how this time machine is used. While many think that a time machine is a “cheap” answer to the show, I can assure you that once LOST makes the “big reveal,” there will be much to think about and reflect upon.
I’d like the reader to note that this is an extensive theory that “stretches” many events to the point that the entire theory may not seem believable. The purpose of the theory is to take a concept of time travel and apply it to all elements of the show - in an attempt to answer almost every question that is presented by LOST. Will all the answers make complete sense? No. Is there any theory out there that is proven to be 100% true? No. With that said, it should also be noted that most of this theory is complete conjecture and I make no claim that this theory is the definitive “answer” to the show it should be read for entertainment purposes only.
In this theory, I will walk you through the linear progression of events in LOST; however, this progression is very different than the ordering of the episodes of LOST - so I will simply provide estimated timestamps for each event. This is a very long theory, and may be confusing to readers who are not well-versed in the world of LOST. Make sure you have time to at least read through the “timeline” section of this theory that is where I lay out all of the events of the show. Thanks, and enjoy reading the theory!
Getting back to the more occult roots of this blog:
Popular Mechanics has an Egyptologist weigh in on the hieroglyphics from “Dead is Dead”
Allen agrees that the animal-headed human in the hieroglyphic Ben is fixated on is probably based on Anubis, though he says in actuality, no Egyptian scene looks like what’s shown on Lost. “I suspect that the colossus is also meant to be Anubis, too,” he says. But he points out, it’s actually more of a hybrid of Anubis and Taweret, the demon-wife of the Apep, the Egyptian’s original god of evil. (It’s said that Apep was only present at night, and therefore any evil happenings during the daytime were attributed to Taweret). “The thing on the head definitely looks like Taweret’s, but she never wears a kilt, which is clearly there in the back shot of the colossus. The colossus is probably holding two ankh-signs, like the one Anubis holds in this image, but he’s holding them like Taweret holds the two signs she holds, which are ‘protection’ signs, not ankhs.” Allen also notes that “the four toes on the statue fragment are more Taweret than Anubis, who has a human body and therefore five toes.”
cult. This is supported by the possibility that the four toed statue is Taweret:
(Image from Lostpedia)
From the Monster theories page of Lostpedia comes an alternate theory:
In Egyptian mythology, Ammit was the personification of divine retribution for all the wrongs one had committed in life. She dwelt in the Hall of Ma’at, who was the personification of the concept of truth, balance, and order.The hearts of the dead were weighed by Anubis against a feather from Ma’at’s headdress. The hearts of those who were heavy with wrongdoing failed the test were given to Ammit for her to devour. Those whose souls were devoured were not permitted to enter Aaru, having to be restless forever—effectively dying a second time. If the heart was lighter than a feather then the soul was judged by the god of the underworld, Osiris. With the strong Egyptian undertones, especially this season, the monster could be a personification of Ammit. When the monster poses as Yemi, it asks Eko if he is sorry for the wrongdoings in his life. When Eko says no, the monster kills him. We saw in “This Place is Death” that the monster lives in the Temple with the hieroglyphics on it. This temple, which goes underground, could represent the Hall of Ma’at where souls are judged.
I have another idea: the creators of LOST might be creating its own set of Egyptian deities.
Until “Dead is Dead” I was thinking that the Dharma Initiative might have been using Egyptian hieroglyphs as a code (the way the Others use Latin). But the hieroglyphs in the temple in “Dead is Dead” seem to rule that out.
It might also be worth noting that in “Some Like it Hoth,” the lesson Jack erases from the chalk board is on Egyptian hieroglyphs.
A blog exploring the real life mad scientists, occult philosophies, and conspiracies that influence ABC's LOST. The editors of this blog are NOT affiliated with ABC or the creators of Lost in any way.
By Technoccult blogger Klintron and advised by Buckminster Fuller expert Trevor Blake, with occasional guest posts.
