| | Totally "Lost": Feeling loopyMay 9, 2009 - Ray EckenrodeFeeling loopy: Which came first, Faraday or his name?  One of the ongoing themes of “Lost” is the nature of destiny and whether human beings have free will to alter the paths of their lives.The Curious Case of Daniel Faraday might give us a little insight into how the “Lost” writers view the concept of free will and how that might play into the end game of the show  .Like many of the characters on the show, the recently deceased, island-born (we think) and Oxford-educated braniac shares a last name with a famous physicist. In this case, it’s Michael Faraday, who established the concept of electromagnetic fields in 18th century England. But there’s a problem with Daniel Faraday bei  ng named Daniel Faraday: (As far as we know) His mother’s last name is Hawking and his father’s last name is Widmore. So, how, and more importantly WHEN, did these two people decide to name their son Daniel Faraday?Based on the clues in “Follow the Leader,” it appears they will give him that name after meet  ing his future self (and in his mother’s case, killing his future self) six months before he was born. So, they’ll name him Daniel Faraday because that’s what he told them his name was. And that was his name, because it’s the name they gave him. But who chose the name? In this case, no one did. There is no free will in a time loop. It's worth noting that Locke's compass is also stuck in a tim  e loop> Locke gives it to Richard in 1954; > Richard shows it to young Locke in the early 60's during his "test" but keeps it; > Richard gives it back to Locke on the beach in 2008; > Locke gives it back to Richard in the jungle and tells him to give it to time tripping Locke when he emerges with his wounded leg; > Richard gives it to time tripping Locke and tells him to give it back to him the next time he sees him; > Time tripping Locke next sees Richard in 1954 and gives him the compass starting the loop again. However, we like the Faraday loop better for our point of argument because it involved a choice that obviously has been made but can not have been made. Which brings us to the mission Jack has taken on -- detonating the Jughead hydrogen bomb to somehow neutralize the huge pocket of electromagnetic energy on the island and avert the crash of Flight 815 on September 22, 2004 – which is, in essence, a mission to end the time loop and restore free will. If Jack succeeds, the loop will be broken, the compass will have an origin, Widmore and Hawking will still have a son, but he won't die on the island in 1977, and you can bet his name won't be Daniel Faraday. Sounds great, right? Not so fast. As we’ve pointed out previously, if Jack does succeed in neutralizing the island’s electromagnetism and keeping 815 in the air, then the means by which he came to the island and was able to stop the crash will no longer exist. Jack can’t fix the loop because if he does he will no longer be able to come to the island to fix the loop. That’s a paradox. So unless someone can figure out a way to end the time loop without causing paradox, it appears our cast of characters will remain lost in time. So who could possibly resolve a paradox? How about someone who is uniquely and miraculously special? How about Desmond David Hume? Article Comments(2)Post a Comment | |
