Theory of the Day: Black Hole!

About ten minutes ago, I was sitting here at my computer, trying to come up with a Lost theory since I haven't done a Theory of the Day in two days, when it hit me: a black hole. The island is sitting on top of a black hole. That explains everything. Bam. I'm done.

It suddenly occurred to me that that didn't sound entirely original, so after a couple of Google searches I realized that no, I wasn't the first person to think of this. Entertainment Weekly reported on a similar theory in the middle of Season 3 that was being discussed on a comment thread at thetailsection.com. But since I didn't want to be influenced by it before I work out my own theory, I haven't read it. Onto my theory...

1. The Science

(Disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about and I'm getting my info from here.) In science, basically the only known way a black hole can be created is by the gravitational collapse of a star; the star collapses in on itself and what's left is a gravitational phenomenon so powerful that no light can escape (hence "black" hole).

Obviously, an island on Earth would be way to small for such a massive phenomenon to occur, but smaller black holes are a theoretical possibility. And since relatively little is understood about how smaller black holes could be created, it's the type of gray area that would be perfect for, say, TV writers who claim that the unexplainable events on their show have a basis in science.

Even more interesting about black holes is that they're surrounded by a boundary called an event horizon, which is sort of the point of no return; once the black hole sucks you inside, you can't get out beyond the event horizon again. And since the properties inside the black hole are so screwed up, it's believed that time goes slower within the boundaries of the event horizon.

(I would be remiss if I didn't mention the film Event Horizon, which is about a spaceship that passes through an event horizon, which turns out to be...wait for it...a gate to Hell! Saw it when I was twelve or thirteen and it scared the crap out of me. But anyway.)

2. How it Applies to Lost

The black hole theory can explain the following things:

-The Swan Hatch was built to keep the black hole in check from slowly swallowing up the world with its gravitational pull. (How Dharma was able to pull off building it is beyond my capabilities now.)

-When Desmond failed to push the button while he was out killing Kelvin, the gravitational properties of the black hole were let loose, which pulled Oceanic 815 from the air down to the island.

-The Black Rock ended up so far inland because of the gravitational pull.

-What I've casually been calling the "wormhole" surrounding the island is actually the black hole's event horizon.

-I'm not exactly sure what happened when Desmond turned the fail-safe key. The entire hatch imploded; since it was sitting on top of the black hole, perhaps it "plugged the hole", so to speak. Everything within the boundaries of the event horizon turned purple for a few seconds; again, I don't have an answer for that.

-While the Swan was regulating the black hole, time on and off the island remained constant; once the fail-safe key was turned, however, some normal properties of a black hole went into effect: time within the event horizon began to go slower than time outside it.

-The Smoke Monster is a phenomenon that emerged from the black hole, which is why not Ben nor anyone else knows what the heck it is.

Obviously, all this needs some work, but I'm not quite ready to write upwards of a thousand words on this just yet. My core ideas are that the Swan was sitting on top of a minor black hole, and the time gap that Sayid, Desmond, and Lapidus passed through is the hole's event horizon. Everything else needs some mulling over.

TAGS: Black Hole Theory, Theories
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