the numbers

[nomteticus]

You know, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Jin have been on the island for three years. LeSawyer is even in the "circle of trust". You'd think that they'd show us a scene where he asks Horace "So H, what exactly are you doing on this island?", and we find out about the equation. Anyway, I hope Faraday tells the audience next episode all about Dharma.

[nomteticus]

Well, they better introduce this Valenzetti thing soon, because the Dharma story is running out of screen time. I don't think that season 6 will feature our losties in '77, so now is the time to tell us about the apocalyptic equation.
I dind't play TLE, but read all about it on Lostpedia, and it really seemed like a good story. I really hope they stick with it. I would be really dissapointed if Dharma were just a bunch of scientists without a clear purpose on the island. Now, trying to save the world with math, that would be cool. And Horace is a mathmatician after all...

Trying to save the world with math = Jugdish's job. 

This is a great post, Nomteticus!

Thank you, Lakie. Nice as always.

[ukslim]

Late coming into this discussion: I was on vacation (in Mexico: no symptoms yet!)

I'm clinging to the belief that the numbers were 'created' in the lottery: assuming the lottery wasn't a fix, it's a random draw, so there's no opportunity for the past to influence it.

My original theory went like this:

• The numbers come up in the lottery
• Hurley wins the lottery
• Hurley has some bad luck: blames the numbers (backed up by various other people affected by island history)
• Plane crash, they find the hatch, Hurley's superstision about the numbers is reinforced
• Hurley goes back to the 70s, still obsessed with the numbers
• Hurley somehow influences the way the serial number etc. were selected in the first place
• Fast forward to the 90s; younger Hurley hears about the numbers from asylum guy, completing the loop

Note: not a falsidical paradox. It would only be a paradox of that kind if somehow the past became inconsistent with the future.
(Edited to add "falsidical" - it *is* a predestination paradox of sorts - but hey, that's a mainstay of literature)

Some Like It Hoth broke that theory somewhat - the hatch has its serial number, and we didn't see Hurley influence the choice of number.

However, other people exposed to the numbers also went back in time. Perhaps one of them (knowlingly?) assigned the numbers. Faraday? Someone we don't know went back? Someone we've never met?

[grizn0]

So after "The Variable" I was thinking about what Dan said about how they were the variables in the equation. Where does that sound familiar? The numbers are supposed to represent variables in the Valenzetti equation right? So could the people (Jack et all) represent the numbers? Are they going to be the ones to change the extinction of the human race?

[nomteticus]

Hmmm, we still didn't get anything about the numbers this episode, which kind of pissed me off, but your theory is interesting.

Let's see: Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Miles, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Faraday. That's 8, and the numbers are 6. Maybe they're digits or something. What about Rose and Bernard? Do the dead ones count? Who knows?

[grizn0]

Yeah, its going to be tough to try and tie it in. I just thought that immediately when he said they were the variables.

[BenLakie]

Nah, I seriously doubt that an individual number corresponds to an individual Lostie.  That's a little too tidy.

Hmmm...maybe Valenzetti will never make it into the story.  I wonder though...