Apologies if any of the following has been mentioned before. I’ve only been looking at the boards for the past few days so haven’t trawled through every post.
With that disclaimer, here goes!
Hurley’s lottery numbers and the numbers that keep turning up all over the Lost plot are:
4 8 15 16 23 42
Which I’m sure some bright spark has already noticed add up to 108 when added together. And I’m sure that I don’t have to mention the significance of 108 to the good people here!
Anyway, I’ve read some posts here that say that 108 is the number of prayers in Buddhism and the Dharma is the name for the collective philosophy of Buddhist principles.
And I’ve also seen speculation about the number 23, that it is a “cosmic” number, and the producers of Lost specifically wanted this particular number included.
(As an aside, I’ve also seen it said that this number is related to black magic via Aleister Crowley. Just to clear this up, Crowley’s special number was actually 93, not 23.)
However, 23 is the sacred number of the surrealist, spoof religion called Discordianism. Thanks to the Discordians link to this number, and the writings of William S Burrows, 23 has taken on a life of its own. This link explains it:
And the last of Hurley’s numbers is 42. Anyone who has read “The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams will know the significance of this number. Basically, 42 is the meaning of life.
So the last two numbers of the sequence, 23 and 42, are “the meaning of life” from two humorous, satirical sources.
I could be way off track, but I wonder if there is actually no “grand unified theory” behind Lost and the final episode will have Jack coming to in the shower and saying, “wow, it was all a dream”.
The whole Lost phenomenon could be a satirical, surrealist way of testing people’s ability to read patterns in things that aren’t there and the real meaning of the series is that life is meaningless.
Ok, that’s it. Probably total nonsense but the way that the producers apparently made great efforts to include the number 23 made me think.
Originally posted by algenon: Apologies if any of the following has been mentioned before. I’ve only been looking at the boards for the past few days so haven’t trawled through every post.
With that disclaimer, here goes!
Hurley’s lottery numbers and the numbers that keep turning up all over the Lost plot are:
4 8 15 16 23 42
Which I’m sure some bright spark has already noticed add up to 108 when added together. And I’m sure that I don’t have to mention the significance of 108 to the good people here!
Anyway, I’ve read some posts here that say that 108 is the number of prayers in Buddhism and the Dharma is the name for the collective philosophy of Buddhist principles.
And I’ve also seen speculation about the number 23, that it is a “cosmic” number, and the producers of Lost specifically wanted this particular number included.
(As an aside, I’ve also seen it said that this number is related to black magic via Aleister Crowley. Just to clear this up, Crowley’s special number was actually 93, not 23.)
However, 23 is the sacred number of the surrealist, spoof religion called Discordianism. Thanks to the Discordians link to this number, and the writings of William S Burrows, 23 has taken on a life of its own. This link explains it:
And the last of Hurley’s numbers is 42. Anyone who has read “The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams will know the significance of this number. Basically, 42 is the meaning of life.
So the last two numbers of the sequence, 23 and 42, are “the meaning of life” from two humorous, satirical sources.
I could be way off track, but I wonder if there is actually no “grand unified theory” behind Lost and the final episode will have Jack coming to in the shower and saying, “wow, it was all a dream”.
The whole Lost phenomenon could be a satirical, surrealist way of testing people’s ability to read patterns in things that aren’t there and the real meaning of the series is that life is meaningless.
Ok, that’s it. Probably total nonsense but the way that the producers apparently made great efforts to include the number 23 made me think.
If the producers were extremely brave, then possibly. However, "The Prisoner" ended on just such a smug, self-aware note, which did not go down well at all with the answer-hungry viewing public (Come to think of it, series creator Patrick McGoohan had to flee the country for a while).
They can include elements of this sort of knowing, ironic satire (and already have, allowing Hurley to occasionally be the "voice" of the impatient or bewildered viewer), but allowing it to take over would be profoundly irritating and not even particularly original.
Yes, if the producers were actually pulling off some sort of stunt, then I would imagine they wouldn’t be able to show their faces in the western world for some time!
However, I do think that the story has become so involved, there are so many convoluted storylines that need to be brought together that I wonder whether the series will ever be able to pull it off.
However the series ends, the ending, the “oh, now I get it” type feeling is going to have to be so stupendous and unexpected otherwise a lot of people will be disappointed.
We’ve had the Buddhist references, the Discordian 23 stuff, the book by that guy (Gary someone) whose name is an anagram of Purgatory that everyone is reading for clues and so on and so on. If they can somehow bring all this diverse stuff to a conclusion at the end, and it all makes sense and is plausible, then they are geniuses. But to be able to do this over probably 3-4 series is pretty implausible I think.
I do admit that I’m probably way off key with my “theory” but I’ll wager that the “point” of Lost does boil down to the randomness and meaningless of life and the connections that people see in the series turn out to be pure chance.
I could be way off track, but I wonder if there is actually no “grand unified theory” behind Lost and the final episode will have Jack coming to in the shower and saying, “wow, it was all a dream”.
The whole Lost phenomenon could be a satirical, surrealist way of testing people’s ability to read patterns in things that aren’t there and the real meaning of the series is that life is meaningless.
I was going to say, it better bl**dy not be!!
♥.·:*¨*:·.♥.Member #394 of the Rex Fanclub.♥.·:*¨*:·.♥
good idea algenon but i dont think the numbers thing is right. i say a week or so ago an interesting theory about the twins. basically either the real locke or real rossau (who were scientists/psychologists/something like that) beleived that everyone has a twin. all the numbers are linked to this. for example, for someones twin, there is 4 people involved. for example your twin is known by the mate of the cousin who is the wife of your boss. it was beleived in the theory that there are about 30 years difference. there are rumours that walt or aaron is ethans twin and the others know about this. the important thing is that all the numbers are linked to this theory.
I believe you mean this one - it started appearing on forums some months ago when S2 was showing in the US, and is widely believed to be a hoax perpetrated by the Lost creators:
quote:
Its called Roussau's genetic mirror theory, and I must say it is very interesting. Roussau's genetic mirror theory says that everyone in the world has an exact twin somewhere, however according to the theory you never encounter this person, by laws of probablitly and other natuaral occuring phemnomen. Its the theory that was devised by a French Mathematician named Marseille Roussau in the year 1988. He used a series of numbers to explain his theory. Now I know you're not going to believe this but here goes.
4 8 15 16 23 42
Let me explain...
The 4 stands for 4 degrees of separation (not 6 or 7 as commonly stated.) Roussau believed that everyone in the world was connected by four different people. So in theory could meet yourself by using four different people connected to you. Example: Your brother's, boss's, neighbor nephew, knows your mirror. Hard to believe, I know but keep reading.
The 8 stands for the eight continent, or the only place in the world where you could meet your mirror. He calculated it to be somewhere in the south pacific. Now we know its not actually as large as the other contintents but its used figurtively because everyone in all 7 continents could meet there mirror on the 8th universal continent.
The 15 stands for the chances of you acually meeting yourself on this place, as in 15 out of 4,815,162,342. Look at the second set "815." Ring any bells? Interesting huh?
The 16 stands for the maximum amount of people that could encounter thier twin all at the same time. Think about the number of main characters.
The 23 is the number of years apart your twin and yourself are. You are not the same age as your twin. By chance and probablity it takes 23 years exactly for the same genes that made you to be connected again to form another you.
The 42 stands for the maximimum number of years your twin and yourself can be alive at the same time. However people do die at diffferent times so thats why everyone isn't dead at 75. For example my twin was born on Sept. 6 2003 b/c i was born on Spet. 6 1980. Now that doesn't mean i will die in the year 2045, I could, but its not set in stone. My twin could die when he is 16, and then the whole thing starts over again.
This is all very complicated and I don't know how well I explained it but the connections with the show are too coinidental to not be real.
Roussau and his team (wife, included) went to the 8th continent. You can figure out how they died and why by the numbers and equations. It also fits with every character. You can predict when they will die. There are others on the island who are twins of the survivors, but have been there 23 years longer.
There is a book Roussau wrote 16 years ago in 1988 when he came up with the theory.
As much as I like this theory I don't think it is right. I think someone has probably made it up as whenever I do searches about any of it on google, only Lost sites come up.
R.I.P. Shannon, I will love you for always and forever! #1 Shannon Rutherford Fan Club - Her spirit will live on through us! Member of A.S.S. D.O.L. Director of Debates and Disputes - Spreading the word and promoting his image #7 Gabrielle Solis Fan Club Runner Up of Lost Season 1 Quiz
Originally posted by Cavegirl: I believe you mean this one - it started appearing on forums some months ago when S2 was showing in the US, and is widely believed to be a hoax perpetrated by the Lost creators:
quote:
Its called Roussau's genetic mirror theory, and I must say it is very interesting. Roussau's genetic mirror theory says that everyone in the world has an exact twin somewhere, however according to the theory you never encounter this person, by laws of probablitly and other natuaral occuring phemnomen. Its the theory that was devised by a French Mathematician named Marseille Roussau in the year 1988. He used a series of numbers to explain his theory. Now I know you're not going to believe this but here goes.
4 8 15 16 23 42
Let me explain...
The 4 stands for 4 degrees of separation (not 6 or 7 as commonly stated.) Roussau believed that everyone in the world was connected by four different people. So in theory could meet yourself by using four different people connected to you. Example: Your brother's, boss's, neighbor nephew, knows your mirror. Hard to believe, I know but keep reading.
The 8 stands for the eight continent, or the only place in the world where you could meet your mirror. He calculated it to be somewhere in the south pacific. Now we know its not actually as large as the other contintents but its used figurtively because everyone in all 7 continents could meet there mirror on the 8th universal continent.
The 15 stands for the chances of you acually meeting yourself on this place, as in 15 out of 4,815,162,342. Look at the second set "815." Ring any bells? Interesting huh?
The 16 stands for the maximum amount of people that could encounter thier twin all at the same time. Think about the number of main characters.
The 23 is the number of years apart your twin and yourself are. You are not the same age as your twin. By chance and probablity it takes 23 years exactly for the same genes that made you to be connected again to form another you.
The 42 stands for the maximimum number of years your twin and yourself can be alive at the same time. However people do die at diffferent times so thats why everyone isn't dead at 75. For example my twin was born on Sept. 6 2003 b/c i was born on Spet. 6 1980. Now that doesn't mean i will die in the year 2045, I could, but its not set in stone. My twin could die when he is 16, and then the whole thing starts over again.
This is all very complicated and I don't know how well I explained it but the connections with the show are too coinidental to not be real.
Roussau and his team (wife, included) went to the 8th continent. You can figure out how they died and why by the numbers and equations. It also fits with every character. You can predict when they will die. There are others on the island who are twins of the survivors, but have been there 23 years longer.
There is a book Roussau wrote 16 years ago in 1988 when he came up with the theory.
There are others on the island who are twins of the survivors, but have been there 23 years longer.
[/QUOTE]
Oooh, I've never seen this until tonight. But when Walt gets kidnapped it seemed to me that the bearded man on the boat was an older, scruffier Sawyer!
It's an interesting idea Algenon but I can't see the creators dragging it out over 3 seasons to mess their loyal viewers up.
This is the joy of Lost, after every episode there is more speculation and improbable theories expounded than any other programme presently on television. I’ve also watched The Prisoner, Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure and was unable to make much sense from any of them, but I would not have missed an episode. So, if it is a surrealist hoax then I’m quite happy to be deceived.
