Comments on: Time Travel on LOST http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/ Where science collides with life, slams into culture, crashes with politics, and gets totaled. Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:28:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Sheril Kirshenbaum http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16871 Sheril Kirshenbaum Tue, 12 May 2009 03:36:29 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16871 <blockquote>he woke up in bed in the future with Penny wondering if he had a dream, but he claimed it to be a memory</blockquote> Great observation with interesting possibilities...

he woke up in bed in the future with Penny wondering if he had a dream, but he claimed it to be a memory

Great observation with interesting possibilities…

]]> By: Bob http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16787 Bob Mon, 11 May 2009 03:12:39 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16787 Laurie, In an episode in Season Four, Miles was doing his Ghostbuster thing in someone's house in L.A -- he went upstairs and the camera showed a bunch of pictures on the wall. But when he came back down, the pictures -- and their frames -- were all different. I originally thought just the frames were different, so I always thought it was a blatant metaphor for frames of reference -- but apparently the photographs themselves changed, too. http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Confirmed_Dead#Miles So I wonder if that was some sort of foreshadowing, if not just a metaphor or a "pay attention!" type technique? But I definitely know that when Daniel Faraday knocked on the door of the Hatch, Desmond came out, was told to find Daniel's mother -- and then he woke up in bed in the future with Penny wondering if he had a dream, but he claimed it to be a memory. Can't think of any other instances... Laurie, In an episode in Season Four, Miles was doing his Ghostbuster thing in someone’s house in L.A — he went upstairs and the camera showed a bunch of pictures on the wall. But when he came back down, the pictures — and their frames — were all different.

I originally thought just the frames were different, so I always thought it was a blatant metaphor for frames of reference — but apparently the photographs themselves changed, too.

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Confirmed_Dead#Miles

So I wonder if that was some sort of foreshadowing, if not just a metaphor or a “pay attention!” type technique?

But I definitely know that when Daniel Faraday knocked on the door of the Hatch, Desmond came out, was told to find Daniel’s mother — and then he woke up in bed in the future with Penny wondering if he had a dream, but he claimed it to be a memory.

Can’t think of any other instances…

]]> By: Laurie Mann http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16750 Laurie Mann Sun, 10 May 2009 01:25:22 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16750 So far, on Lost, I'm not convinced "the past has been changed" through time travel. I think it's been pretty clear for a while that, um, a certain minor character had a major tragedy at some point in her life, and now we know what that is (the finale of the episode before last). Do we know that anything has been changed through time travel on Lost? I could be missing details, but I'm not sure anything "different" has happened. So far, on Lost, I’m not convinced “the past has been changed” through time travel.

I think it’s been pretty clear for a while that, um, a certain minor character had a major tragedy at some point in her life, and now we know what that is (the finale of the episode before last).

Do we know that anything has been changed through time travel on Lost? I could be missing details, but I’m not sure anything “different” has happened.

]]> By: Erasmussimo http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16717 Erasmussimo Sat, 09 May 2009 16:47:50 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16717 Yes, and in fantasy novels they do all sorts of wondrous things. Time travel properly belongs in the realm of fantasy, not science. I have no objection to fantasy -- it can illuminate the human condition. But there's not much point in analyzing the anatomy of fire-breathing dragons. Yes, and in fantasy novels they do all sorts of wondrous things. Time travel properly belongs in the realm of fantasy, not science. I have no objection to fantasy — it can illuminate the human condition. But there’s not much point in analyzing the anatomy of fire-breathing dragons.

]]> By: Jo http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16712 Jo Sat, 09 May 2009 15:42:52 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16712 @Erasmussimo: In a many worlds scenario, you really can interrupt causality with no paradox. @Erasmussimo: In a many worlds scenario, you really can interrupt causality with no paradox.

]]> By: Erasmussimo http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16690 Erasmussimo Sat, 09 May 2009 03:24:22 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16690 Well, gee, why should we permit our imaginations to be limited by considerations of causality? Let's talk about a super-duper science gadget that makes it possible for wishing something to make it so! ;-) Well, gee, why should we permit our imaginations to be limited by considerations of causality? Let’s talk about a super-duper science gadget that makes it possible for wishing something to make it so! ;-)

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]]> By: Time Travel on <i>LOST</i> | The Intersection | Discover Magazine « Bulgaria Travel Guide http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16661 Time Travel on <i>LOST</i> | The Intersection | Discover Magazine « Bulgaria Travel Guide Fri, 08 May 2009 21:06:43 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16661 [...] More here: Time Travel on <i>LOST</i> | The Intersection | Discover Magazine [...] [...] More here: Time Travel on <i>LOST</i> | The Intersection | Discover Magazine [...]

]]> By: Bob http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16654 Bob Fri, 08 May 2009 20:27:59 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/08/time-travel-on-lost/#comment-16654 But if you get into the implications of Wheeler's quantum post selection thought experiments, or the "backwards-in-time" paths Feynman's sum-over-histories says particles should take, it's enough to make you re-think what exactly causality is. Maybe there're sort of "side steps" to cause and effect. I like Wheeler's idea of a participatory anthropic principle, where observation has effects both forwards and backwards in time, and the universe sort of evolves a certain way due to the act of observation. I think that kind of thinking is the next step for time travel in science fiction, and might be what Lost is reaching towards. But if you get into the implications of Wheeler’s quantum post selection thought experiments, or the “backwards-in-time” paths Feynman’s sum-over-histories says particles should take, it’s enough to make you re-think what exactly causality is.

Maybe there’re sort of “side steps” to cause and effect.

I like Wheeler’s idea of a participatory anthropic principle, where observation has effects both forwards and backwards in time, and the universe sort of evolves a certain way due to the act of observation. I think that kind of thinking is the next step for time travel in science fiction, and might be what Lost is reaching towards.

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