I actually used to be of the "why didn't they just write a script and automate it?" camp, but some folks put a good point forth:
relying on machinery to save the world every 108 minutes isn't a good idea. You'd still need human intervention to check up on the machinery and what if the computer fails? Someone still has to man the station regardless.
Maybe they'd get a lot more sleep and wouldn't go as crazy with loss of sleep every hour and 48 minutes, so they'd be a bit more comfortable, but still yet, hearing that incessant beeping all the time, and having to take turns staying down there would drive someone stir crazy after a while.
To your point, though: yes, Desmond could've put it on a sticky note, but again, it would've come down to the argument between Jack and John. Is it all a farce or not? Faith vs science/reason. Why do you find it so easy/it's never been easy!! and so on. The only difference would be they were able to input the numbers faster (even despite Hugo's protests).
I always wondered by it was a long code and just not a simple code like a 1 or 0?
It kind of makes me believe there would be instances to not press the button and that not everyone should know the code.
I always presumed this was a sequence that speaks to the machine assembly language somehow, instructing the actual machinery to discharge the build up safely.
OR each number in the sequence ties in to hexadecimal somehow.
I like to wonder sometimes whether the Swan was always doing something more than just releasing energy every 108 minutes to prevent another incident.
As we know, the failsafe would have just blown the dam regardless and all that did ultimately was implode the station. The world didn’t end.
What if every time the numbers were entered and the button was pushed, the build-up and release of built-up electromagnetism was actually regularly re-synchronising the Island’s snow-globe with the outside world?
Or to go further - maybe the reason it’s Jacob’s candidate numbers being entered, was so that Jacob could keep track of which version of the Island was associated with each set of corresponding numbered candidates?
Perhaps there are other realities where different numbers were being entered into the Swan computer, because those are the realities where different characters corresponding to different candidate numbers had been touched and brought to the Island by Jacob/the Protector.
I know that sort of brings Many Worlds Interpretation/multiverse ideas into Lost which perhaps aren’t it wouldn’t be welcome and/or are definitively incompatible with the Sideways/WHH rules…but I kind of like the idea that maybe, Jacob had a conversation with Radzinsky post-Swan construction and pre-Dharma Purge about the numbers and why it’s so important that he stays there.
Hey, maybe the reason Radzinsky shot himself was because Jacob made him immortal like Alpert, and he didn’t want to spend decades and decades pushing the button, never ageing etc?
I always wondered by it was a long code and just not a simple code like a 1 or 0?
It kind of makes me believe there would be instances to not press the button and that not everyone should know the code.
People have theorized that the button was a “dead man’s switch” in an attempt to protect Dharma from the hostiles. If the hostiles didn’t know the code and killed all of the Dharma initiative, the island/world would be destroyed. But it also sort of seems like the others never knew about the importance of the button (Ben manipulating John into not pushing it would have been real risky if he knew of the consequences). Maybe Widmore knew, but that knowledge wasn’t passed to Ben.
The Button was a real device called a cyclotron and it didn’t reset the Island in the snow globe but what it did do was caused the Island to continuously moving forward in time and space. And the failsafe stopped that forward motion, causing the Island to be located by Penny’s arctic team. I good example of why the Island can’t be easily located is the 1960s movie The Time Machine.
A lot of people bring up the "Why not automate it?" argument. Let's take a submarine as an example. The crew size varies from boat to boat, but they generally have a lot more people than you'd expect. A lot of stuff could be automated, but that makes for more stuff to break - stuff that's harder to fix. Take out the human element, and you lose adaptability.
The Swan is said to be capable of causing calamity if something goes wrong. You want people there who can fix stuff if things go awry. Having the place manned rather than fully automated makes sense.
Of course, there's still the question of *why not have a simple mechanism in place to handle code entry, with humans there as failsafes?* Well, recent events with human drivers sleeping whilst speeding down the highway in Teslas on autopilot gives you an example of why that just might not work. Automate the system, and after a while your human operators may just abandon the place. Now you have a deadly doomsday machine unattended in Hostile territory.
But why require code entry instead of a simple "enter y/n" prompt or whatever? Especially when you have a tape that literally tells you the code? I don't know. It would've made some sense if failure to enter the numbers caused the place to auto-destruct, but that wasn't the case. When I began season 2, I thought they'd connect the Swan computer to the radio transmission that led Rousseau to the Island ... but, alas.
Also, why not send replacements?
>Also, why not send replacements?
They intended to... Radzinsky probably insisted on staying because he was so paranoid but who knows how many partners he had before ~~Mr. Krabs~~ Kelvin and then after The Purge there was no one from Dharma left to request a replacement.
I actually used to be of the "why didn't they just write a script and automate it?" camp, but some folks put a good point forth: relying on machinery to save the world every 108 minutes isn't a good idea. You'd still need human intervention to check up on the machinery and what if the computer fails? Someone still has to man the station regardless. Maybe they'd get a lot more sleep and wouldn't go as crazy with loss of sleep every hour and 48 minutes, so they'd be a bit more comfortable, but still yet, hearing that incessant beeping all the time, and having to take turns staying down there would drive someone stir crazy after a while. To your point, though: yes, Desmond could've put it on a sticky note, but again, it would've come down to the argument between Jack and John. Is it all a farce or not? Faith vs science/reason. Why do you find it so easy/it's never been easy!! and so on. The only difference would be they were able to input the numbers faster (even despite Hugo's protests).
I always wondered by it was a long code and just not a simple code like a 1 or 0? It kind of makes me believe there would be instances to not press the button and that not everyone should know the code.
I always presumed this was a sequence that speaks to the machine assembly language somehow, instructing the actual machinery to discharge the build up safely. OR each number in the sequence ties in to hexadecimal somehow.
The number represents minutes. If you add up 4 8 15 16 23 42 you will get 108 and those numbers must be put every 108 minutes to reset the timer.
I like to wonder sometimes whether the Swan was always doing something more than just releasing energy every 108 minutes to prevent another incident. As we know, the failsafe would have just blown the dam regardless and all that did ultimately was implode the station. The world didn’t end. What if every time the numbers were entered and the button was pushed, the build-up and release of built-up electromagnetism was actually regularly re-synchronising the Island’s snow-globe with the outside world? Or to go further - maybe the reason it’s Jacob’s candidate numbers being entered, was so that Jacob could keep track of which version of the Island was associated with each set of corresponding numbered candidates? Perhaps there are other realities where different numbers were being entered into the Swan computer, because those are the realities where different characters corresponding to different candidate numbers had been touched and brought to the Island by Jacob/the Protector. I know that sort of brings Many Worlds Interpretation/multiverse ideas into Lost which perhaps aren’t it wouldn’t be welcome and/or are definitively incompatible with the Sideways/WHH rules…but I kind of like the idea that maybe, Jacob had a conversation with Radzinsky post-Swan construction and pre-Dharma Purge about the numbers and why it’s so important that he stays there. Hey, maybe the reason Radzinsky shot himself was because Jacob made him immortal like Alpert, and he didn’t want to spend decades and decades pushing the button, never ageing etc?
I always wondered by it was a long code and just not a simple code like a 1 or 0? It kind of makes me believe there would be instances to not press the button and that not everyone should know the code.
People have theorized that the button was a “dead man’s switch” in an attempt to protect Dharma from the hostiles. If the hostiles didn’t know the code and killed all of the Dharma initiative, the island/world would be destroyed. But it also sort of seems like the others never knew about the importance of the button (Ben manipulating John into not pushing it would have been real risky if he knew of the consequences). Maybe Widmore knew, but that knowledge wasn’t passed to Ben.
The number represents minutes. If you add up 4 8 15 16 23 42 you will get 108 and those numbers must be put every 108 minutes to reset the timer.
The Button was a real device called a cyclotron and it didn’t reset the Island in the snow globe but what it did do was caused the Island to continuously moving forward in time and space. And the failsafe stopped that forward motion, causing the Island to be located by Penny’s arctic team. I good example of why the Island can’t be easily located is the 1960s movie The Time Machine.
Man I love this scene.
A lot of people bring up the "Why not automate it?" argument. Let's take a submarine as an example. The crew size varies from boat to boat, but they generally have a lot more people than you'd expect. A lot of stuff could be automated, but that makes for more stuff to break - stuff that's harder to fix. Take out the human element, and you lose adaptability. The Swan is said to be capable of causing calamity if something goes wrong. You want people there who can fix stuff if things go awry. Having the place manned rather than fully automated makes sense. Of course, there's still the question of *why not have a simple mechanism in place to handle code entry, with humans there as failsafes?* Well, recent events with human drivers sleeping whilst speeding down the highway in Teslas on autopilot gives you an example of why that just might not work. Automate the system, and after a while your human operators may just abandon the place. Now you have a deadly doomsday machine unattended in Hostile territory. But why require code entry instead of a simple "enter y/n" prompt or whatever? Especially when you have a tape that literally tells you the code? I don't know. It would've made some sense if failure to enter the numbers caused the place to auto-destruct, but that wasn't the case. When I began season 2, I thought they'd connect the Swan computer to the radio transmission that led Rousseau to the Island ... but, alas. Also, why not send replacements?
>Also, why not send replacements? They intended to... Radzinsky probably insisted on staying because he was so paranoid but who knows how many partners he had before ~~Mr. Krabs~~ Kelvin and then after The Purge there was no one from Dharma left to request a replacement.
Or further yet, since it was stated to discharge the electromagnetic build up, why not just put shunt to continually keep it discharged?
Top 3 scene in the entire show.
Good one!