LOST is totally based on this book!
I TOLD YOU THE ANSWER TO LOST WAS IN A BOX OF BOOKS. Robert James Sawyer penned this book in 1999. Part 1 of the book takes place in 2009. Two scientists conduct experiments: pushing a button is most certainly involved. The author is a Hugo award nominee.
A friend recently mentioned to me his theory that the character of Sawyer in the television series LOST was actually a writer. He believed Sawyer made up his entire back story, made up his name, all of it. Found it obvious since Sawyer is always reading. My response was, "Then how could ‘the others’ know his whole back story?" Good point. I thought it over and took it a bit further. The thing most important to Sawyer was a written note. Maybe Sawyer is a writer… a real writer. So I googled it, found the book. Found other sites saying what I’m saying here. And, as I mentioned in these comments… the season 3 finale (in a flash forward scene, mind you) had the funeral parlor named Hoffs/Drawlar (anagram for Flash/Forward).
There’s of course DESmond, who doesn’t necessarily see the future as much as DEStiny. And at the start of Robert J. Sawyer’s book we get this:
He who foresees calamities suffers them twice over. — Beilby Porteus
Pretty much explains why Jack’s dad in the flashforward.
And from lost-theories web site message boards: Dr.Theodosios Procopides,[from the book] who does not have a flashforward is presumed that he will be dead in 21 years, since that is how far in the future the rest of the world went …it is revealed so far that he will be killed by someone…so he posts a site as to who has any information on his death…..someone says they read a paper that he “will be survived by his son and wife”…. in flashforward episode jack shows kate the newspaper clipping …. now someone posted the clipping from lost … and it read “he will be survived by his teenage son…"
So let’s see… Michael has a teenage son. Locke might have a son. Who else might have a son and a wife? Jin (but by that time, no way it would be a teenager). And even if Kate were pregs with Sawyer’s guppy, it wouldn’t be a teen. And the name with article on cover was Lathem… an important artist… which could be Michael… but the black neighborhood of the funeral parlor is too obvious.Maybe Locke is in the coffin.
From Publisher’s Weekly: A science experiment that unwittingly shuts down all human consciousness for two minutes is the catalyst for a creative exploration of fate, free will and the nature of the universe in Sawyer’s soul-searching new work (after Factoring Humanity). In April 2009, Lloyd and Theo, two scientists at the European Organization for Particle Physics (CERN), run an experiment that accidentally transports the world’s consciousness 20 years into the future. When humanity reawakens a moment later, chaos rules. Vehicles whose drivers passed out plow into one another; people fall or maim themselves. But that’s just the beginning. After the horror is sorted out, each character tries desperately to ensure or avoid his or her future. Trapped by his guilt for causing so much destruction and driven by a need to rationalize, Lloyd tries to prove that free will is a myth. Theo discovers that he will be murdered and begins to hunt down his killer, tempting fate as in the Greek dramas of his ancestors. Some people start on their appointed roads early, others give up on life because of what they’ve seen. Using a third-person omniscient narrator, Sawyer shifts seamlessly among the perspectives of his many characters, anchoring the story in small details. This first-rate, philosophical journey, a terrific example of idea-driven SF, should have wide appeal. (June) FYI: Sawyer is the president of the Science Fiction Writers of America.
There was a time, not too long ago, when Phil and I rented all the episodes of ABC’s television show LOST. Neither of us ever watched it when it was on TV, so we began from the start, both of us amazed that viewers could sit through all the commercials (and weeks between episodes!). Each was a cliffhanger. For those who have never seen the series, the premise is this: a plane crashes, after being off course and out of touch for 1000 miles or so. The plane splits into two parts, each landing on opposites sides of a seemingly unoccupied mysterious and magical island. The series explores how each of the passengers of the flight are connected to one another through flashbacks. As an audience we follow many story lines: the current narrative (what’s happening on the island), and the flashbacks (what happened before the plane crashed, or while on the plane, etc.that perhaps led them to this island in the first place), and in the next season flashforwards. There are many theories out there (the island represents purgatory, it’s a land of redemption, it’s time travel, etc.) about all the mysteries (Is Jacob really Jack?) Everyone wants to "solve" and understand, to come to some epiphany. A ha! I’ve got it!
There were some nights we’d be up until 2AM. A DVD of five episodes would end, and we’d look at each other. "Another one?" we’d say together. Then we’d load up the next disc.
The other night, as I was falling asleep, I realized, "I miss LOST." I miss the bad acting, the parts where we’d roll our eyes, "get to the good part already," but mostly, I missed when I’d have to press ‘pause’ and declare aloud what would happen next. "Oooh, you know what? They are totally brother and sister!" And once this was confirmed, many episodes later mind you, I did a touchdown dance. "Who said it? Who said it? Uh, uh. You know it. I AM ALL POWERFUL!"
So the other day, a moving truck arrives at our house. Some of the items we’ve had in storage have finally made it to Texas. I unload my first box. It’s chockablock with my tattered college books. Philosophy books. Literature. Elizabethan drama. And as I’m falling asleep, with LOST on my mind, I can’t help but wonder, "Maybe I can solve it. Maybe the answer to the theory behind LOST is in that box of books."
The end justifying the means. Books on science, men of faith, of reason. Quantum physics–eh, well, no. Though I couldn’t help but think about Plato’s Republic, Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass, and then I took steps from there to recreational mathematicians. I could go on, but I’ll spare you my nerdness and just say, I’ve read more about the philosophies of Hume, Rousseau, Locke, Hegel, and Kant than I did in Intro to Philosophy (a class I despised). If you haven’t seen this show, I highly recommend you camp in for a weekend and catch up on the first three seasons via DVD, so you’re all caught up in February ’08 when new episodes air.
And as an aside, the producers already said the island is not purgatory or hell. I wish I had time to be more of a nerd and read all the message boards where people analyze every clip, lyrics to songs played in the background of scenes, symbolism, and discussed quantum physics. If you’re looking for a new obsession, this show is it.
