Exotic Matter and Compass 325

Dear All,

Okay so I’m sorry if this has already been talk through but I’ve not seen anything on the other bogs so would like to raise the point now about why I think the island cannot be seen or reached without traveling along the specific compass rout of 325.

The last video in the Pearl explained that there is a pocket of ‘exotic matter’ within the island that exhibits unusual characteristics. I don’t know loads about exotic matter but I do know that it causes anti-gravity by Einstein's definitions in his general theory of relativity.

Objects with a large mass cause curves in space and other objects will fall into these curves if the curve is large enough, this is what we call gravity. Our Earth curves space so much that we are actually falling into the centre point of the curvature, the centre of the Earth. So where large objects will stretch space to form a curvature, exotic matter will do the opposite and actually pull this space back inwards, essentially causing anti-gravity.

What I am thinking with the Island is that the exotic matter is just enough to close in the points in space directly around the island. What this would do is leave the island in tact but close in all other areas around the island into a much smaller point. To put it simply, this would be like putting the island inside a balloon where the island is in tact in the centre but the space around it (i.e. the rubber of the balloon) would be pulled in to a single point (i.e. the blow hole at the top of the balloon) by the power of the exotic matter.

This would explain a few things:

1.The bearing of 325 on the compass would be the one direction that can lead people in and out of the islands central area in space. Going back to the balloon analogy, this would be the one direction in and out of the blow hole at the end of the balloon. Going any other direction would lead a person straight into the curved space (caused by the exotic matter) around the island and ultimately direct them back to the island (as Desmond found out when trying to escape by boat).

2.The space would be pulled in to such a small point in the pacific ocean that unless ships or planes were traveling directly down the ‘blow hole’ they would pass straight past the island and never come into contact with it or see it. This is why it has been so hard for so many people to find the island.

3.Going back to the General Theory of Relativity and curvatures in space: the light would take longer to travel around the spacial area containing the island than it would outside the area (i.e. all the way around the inside of the balloon vs a quick flash past the balloons blowhole). Therefore should the curvature in space be large enough, all inhabitants inside the islands spacial area would perceive time differently than those outside. This would go some way to explaining the changes in the time of day when the helicopter transported Desmond etc from the island to the boat for the first time.

4.Finally, if you combine the exotic matter theory with the intense electromagnetic forces present on the island it would be possible to explain why the plane first went missing as it was essentially sucked through the opening in the space curvature and onto the island.

Everyones opinion on this would be very welcome. I am the only one out of my friends who watches LOST and it i extremely frustrating not being able to discuss what’s going on!!!

Regards,

Deevo

P.S. for anyone who understands the above and is as big a geek as I am then yes this is in fact how you would also explain the nature of the Tardis from Doctor Who. The centre of the Tardis sits in the middle of the space curvature and exotic matter pulls in space to a single point (i.e. the entrance to the Tardis). This is why from the outside the space looks small but on the inside there is loads of room.

Excellent Info and theory.. One question..

How did the baring to "get out of the balloon" change from 325 to 305..

Ben gives Michael the bearing 325 to leave with Walt, then when Faraday and all of those folks came to the island the baring became 305.. What caused the change in the bearing for your theory?

Good theory Deevo. Best and most believeable theory so far. I think the ballon theory of getting on the island by going through that opening is not a single point or bearing but a collection of bearings. That's why there are two separate bearings getting on and off the island.

Wednighter- to get off the island safely, you need to travel on the 325 bearing. To get on, you needed to travel on the 305 to be safe. If you get to the island on any other bearing, something goes wrong like George on the freighter or the doctor washing up on shore before he died.

Thanks for the responses.Wednighter good q. I think what Aljoe07 is saying could be the right answer. Like I said I'm no expert on exotic matter but I think another possible solution for this would be the end of the curved space at the "balloons blow hole" from each side still not being 100% and causing additional travel problems.

I don't think its as easy as saying curved space starts at point A and ends at point B giving a nice easy enter/exit point for the island. Instead it might be more realistic to say it is less inhibitive at point A (compass 325) moving outwards rather than inwards and less inhibitive at point B (compass 305) moving inwards rather than outwards. This might make sense considering the two points are relatively close together on the compass (at least similar directions for the closure in curved space). The most realistic solution for this could be that although there is a "blow hole opening" it only exists between compass points 305 and 325 and even then it is still unstable at best.

Oh just had one more thought or two really. If the exotic matter is causing a balloon blow hole effect around the island it could also explain how the island is "moved". Two options:

1. When Ben cranks the wheel round to move the Island maybe he's not moving the Island but is instead shifting the exotic matter around the Island to move the position of the "blow hole". What this would do would be to let the Island stay exactly where it is inside its spacial area and simply move the "blow hole" around the Island with a new position in the pacific (relatively near to the original position) and a brand new compass bearing in and out of the Island's spacial area. The new position of the "blow hole" would still remain within a few square miles of its original position because the Island hasn't actually moved but would still be small enough to be very hard to find PLUS would require a whole new set of compass points to enter and exit.

or

2. Not sure if its even possible but by moving the wheel inside the Island maybe Ben squeezed the points in space at the enter/exit point of curved space together and pulled the Island from its original point in space altogether. This would cease to be a balloon effect and instead would mirror the characteristics of a bubble breaking away on its own. The bubble would be completely self contained with the Island at its centre. If this were so I would imagine that what would need to happen is the Island bubble would reintegrate itself back into an ocean at a new position with the original characteristics of the balloon effect (also with its original compass points just at an entirely new spot in one of the worlds oceans). Should this be the case the inhabitants of the Island can either control the Island and keep it in its bubble for as long as they want and bring it back to any location they want or the bubble would instantly transfer from point one to point two and the inhabitants of the Island would shift positions without noticing any change and without any control over final position.

Either of these explanations would also explain the Island disappearing and the water rippling as the original space reasserts itself without the Island.

Awesome theories Deevo, I think you're onto something. I was thinking while I read it and there's one thing I disagreed with.
I have always believed that there is a bubble or field around the island. But it seems as though the "exotic matter" is not only the source of this power but also a great variety of other effects. My thought is that a simple balloon design is too simple to explain all the phenomena we've observed.
I only say this because I had this ridiculous sketch of the island surrounded by a field shaped like a wrapped piece of candy. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It was based on a drawing in a book by Carlos Castaneda, in which these really old wise Yakui sorcerers down in Mexico described the way a human really looks, in its "energy" form. It's like a big glowing egg with a million little fibers connecting it to everything in the world. The fibers all connect where the neck would be, if it wasn't an egg, and in that spot lies the capability to see the ends of all the fibers, which they say are connected to different "dimensions of causality". I think this is the same effect that the "exotic matter" has on the island.
There are these places called "spiritual vortices" all around the world, in Arizona I went to a few. They're alleged sites for accumulation of geophysical forces unexplained by science. Most people think it's just new age weirdness, I dunno, maybe so. A lot of people in those areas truthfully insist on its significance, though, and I'm inclined to believe.
I made a theory based on this, and on the gravitational "hot-spots" scattered all over the world, including one in California called The Mystery Spot, which has been debunked officially of course. (Although I personally know there's something weird going on there)
My theory has the island encased in a spindle structure, connected on both sides to many "vortices" or line of energy that contains matter we can't understand, or exotic matter. I picture it as a bundle, a grouping of lines in convergence that causes that matter to be in a constantly exited state. The compass reading is in line with the island's spindle arm on one end, and space as we know it is warped so that on the other end, the compass reading is only twenty degrees off. Think about it, Michael and Walt left off the dock, and Faraday went straight from the beach. It can't be the exact same opening. I think those places are opposite to each other and that the two entrances to the island's interior environment are how the island moves.
I think the wheel turns a huge room full of gears that motorize the island and literally shift it in space/time down one of the infinite vortices it's connected to. But all this just came from the candy-wrapper drawing, so...I dunno.

PS. Sorry bout the novel, but it seemed to be the theme of the thread lol.
Also, for those of you who haven't already, look up Carlos Castaneda. He was an anthropologist that studied sorcery and related phenomena in Mexico, and I definitely think the creators of Lost have read his stuff.

So you're talking about a little pocket universe with a closed space-time curvature?

Your balloon example sounds a little bit like a black hole (not sure if those are considered to be closed) the event horizon, or the surface of the balloon, prevents light from leaving so no one outside can see the island or things in its immediate vicinity, but everything in the outside world is still visible to the island cause there is nothing stopping that light from crossing the event horizon. The only thing is the negative density cause by the exotic matter wouldn't just create a barrier around the island, the entire volumn of the balloon would have the same negative density that causes light to be trapped by its edge.

How much do we know about the rocket experiment that Faraday did? If we knew that path of the rocket Im sure we could make more sense of this. Did it fire straight off the boat to his homing beacon (ie, in an arc-like path) or did it first take the bearing 325?

thats alot of reading, interesting though

I hereby nominate Trismogistus and Deevo for the Lost Nerd Hall of Fame. You guys float my boat. I am more entertained (almost) by your esoteric ramblings than I am by the show. I read this stuff and I just want more.

And yet, my LOST cynicism lead me to wonder: do you guys really know anything about physics, or are you just whistling Dixie out your black holes?

I swear to god, "whistling dixie out of your black holes" is probably the coolest combination of words I've ever seen!
I don't have a degree or anything, but I like to think I have an alright handle on things. Mostly from reading, although I don't know how smart that makes me.
The whole field theory is pretty well-secured, though. After seeing the island vanish like that, the watch experiment by Faraday, and the navigation interference, I would say that according to the stuff we know, there's no way the space around the island is the same as the space, say, around my house.
That's the basis for me and the field thing.
Everything else, the connections I've made, yes, right out the black hole, and whistlin' like mad.
But thank you very much, your praise is entirely undeserved.
Deevo should definitely win.