Lost Update - And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Lost Update - Season V - 04/15/2009

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Last week I revealed two of the many experiments being conducted on the Lost Islanders. Ivan Pavlov and his salivating dogs to show how conditioning can be changed in an animal. Desmond pushing the button every 108 minutes was the subject. The second was Stanley Milgram’s study on Obedience To Authority. Ben Linus was right smack dab in the center of that experiment. Negative reinforcement to force obedience. The difference is that Desmond and Ben are not aware of any experiments, not aware that they are in a lab, and not aware that nothing they see, feel, or hear is real.

Tonight, I will enlighten you with yet another classic social psychology experiment being conducted on the castaways. I present to you Phillip Zimbardo's Stanford Prisoner's Experiment.

The Prison Experiment, conducted in 1971, was a critical social experiment to study how humans react and behave to being held captive. Zimbardo selected two groups of people deeming one group inmate guards, and the second group, prisoners. The guards were then told to lock up the prisoners and treat them as they would think prisoners should be treated. The prisoners were handcuffed and shackled together and led to their cells and locked in. In the beginning, attitudes didn't change, the guards were receptive to the requests of the prisoners for food, water, and bedding.

But as the experiment progressed, several of the guards became aggressive towards the inmates and went as far as torturing them. The experiment soon got out of control as the prisoners staged a rebellion and rioted against the guards causing both physical and mental harm to both the guards and prisoners. The warden, Phillip Zimbardo himself, had to end the experiment and bring order back to the two groups of of test subjects. The experiment was originally designed twofold. One, to study humans in captivity and how they adapt to being obedient and manipulated when presented a legitimate ideology and support staff. Two, how a group given absolute authority can overstep their boundaries.

My Lost theory sounds pretty good now doesn't it? The castaways of Oceanic Flight 815 are the prisoners while the "Others" play the part of the guards. At first, the "Others" stay away and leave the castaways alone and seem to live in a balanced environment. Until the prisoners find out what the "Others" are doing behind their backs. (Spying on them, stealing the children etc..)

The castaways assemble, and rebel against the "Others" in a violent showdown where many people are killed. The warden, (Ben Linus) has lost control of the situation, and must now put an end to the unchecked violence. This is exactly what transpired in Phillip Zimbardo's Stanford Prisoner's Experiment. Which brings us to my Lost theory.

Holy smoke monster Batman, we're just now getting around to what my Lost theory is. It's worth the wait.
Just what is the Grassy Knoll Institutes Lost theory…
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

The poem opening this update is by Robert Frost titled, Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. It describes the tumultuous relationship between Miles and his father, Doctor Chang. Read it again now, before we continue.

Horace brings Miles into the "Circle Of Trust." Not really much of a ceremony was it? Lafluer is not available and Horace needs somebody, Miles is there, and becomes part of the Inner Sanctum. (Now we all know why the compound community goes Helter Skelter.) Miles accepts, (Not even a secret handshake, secret password, not even a stinkin T-Shirt.) What Social Psychology study is going on here? (There will be a test on this tomorrow so speak up now)

I found something very odd in tonight's episode. While Miles and Hurley were riding in the VW van, the radio was playing It never Rains In California by Albert Hammond. Later on we heard the Captain and Tennille singing Love Will Keep Us Together. I am not here to judge the poor taste of music, but my question is, from what radio station is the music broadcast from? Yea, yea, yea, I know there is a tower on top of the mountain, but a radio station, highly unlikely.

Naomi tells Miles they need him for the island mission because there are a lot of dead people on the island they need information from. Hold the phone, stop the movie. Is Miles Bruce Willis, from the movie, I See Dead people? i don't buy it. Dead people on the island with information. Want my motto, dead men tell no tales.

If this were real life, and not a TV program, they would have a date with the mental ward. We, as rational people, would not accept that dead people were communicating with the living. (Jon Edwards has that racket cornered on the A&E channel)

The only plausible explanation is my theory. The virtual reality theory. No one is dead, or mostly dead. No one is in heaven. No one is time traveling back and forth and back again. The island isn't invisible nor does it move around in the ocean. Everything the castaways and the "Others" are experiencing is being controlled in a lab. A virtual reality lab. Each variable introduced is carefully inserted to create the desired effect to study how the herd, (Castaways) reacts.

Tidbits From tonight's Episode:

* Juliet to Kate: "Well, here we go!" After Ben's father finds he is missing.

*Miles is in the same time line as himself as a three month old child. You can throw that theory out folks.

* Naomi returns. And so does the hotness of the show. She is attempting to talk Miles into joining the freighter mission.

* Miles accepts for 1.6 million dollars.

* Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue? If you don't you are not ready to go on the mission.

* Faraday returns to the island. Questions for Faraday: How many times has he been on the island. And since he has been there before, why doesn't anyone recognize him? Don't give me that Superman disguise crap.

Until next week, get Lost!

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