Lost and Sphere

So, who’s read Sphere? For those of you who haven’t, we got a taste of it last night on Lost. In Sphere, a group of investigators discover an alien sphere that gives those who enter it the power to make their thoughts into reality. I would recommend the book long before anyone sees the movie.

Anyway, it would seem that Walt has a similar power on Lost: the ability to make certain thoughts into reality. On two occasions we’ve seen Walt read a comic book concerning a polar bear and had a polar bear appear. He wanted his stepfather to look at him so he contrived a bird that he was looking at to crash into a window, forcing his stepfather to look in his direction. He also wanted his father to help him when he was in trouble and he appeared with Locke.

Locke also seems to be the only person who recognizes this particular power. In fact, I’d say that Locke’s primary role is for everyone to realize his or her full potential. He helped the doctor realize his role as the leader, he helped Boone free himself from his lust for his stepsister and he is helping Walt realize what he is capable of. We’ve also seen him as the arbiter of choice in helping Charlie to kick his drug habit, giving the philosophical lecture to Walt concerning backgammon and choice, and appearing as the face of choice in Claire’s dream. What else he will demonstrate I’m not sure yet. According to the dictionary, John Locke was a British philosopher who believed that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience, i.e. theory is useless and you can only learn by doing. The classic example is that you read as many books as you want about how to ride a bicycle, but you won’t be able to ride until you actually conduct trial and error. This fits with Locke’s character in that he is forcing everyone to immerse him or herself in experience to learn about themselves. The irony is that everything Locke knows about nature and survival must have come from books and learning as he could not have experienced them from his wheelchair.

Last night’s episode was the second turn the producers have made into the sci-fi realm. I personally, think they should have played out Walt’s abilities a little bit more. A red herring would have been good to throw in there to make people guess more. But we shall have to see what they do with Walt’s ability in the future. Its going to be hard to explain why they just don’t have Walt imagine them being rescued and have the whole thing done with. But that’s a question for another day.