EYELAND

Posted on Lost theories RIP a couple of years ago

Okay, this is something I've been thinking about for quite a while. It makes sense to me in my head.........


Though Lost is obviously about characters I think the underlying story is about surveillance, law, trials, judgment and 'ultimately redemption'. (or at least the attempted attainment of a flawless crime v's punishment system)


Surveillance (in the creepy Orwellian sense) is a classic literary topic. With the content of season 4 and the solid introduction of Jeremy Bentham
I feel Lost is definitely about surveillance.


For those of you who don't know, Jeremy Bentham, the real Jeremy Bentham, is the god father of surveillance, he invented the panopticon. Primarily a design for a prison , the panopticons design regulated the prisoners behavior because they did not know when they were being watched, guards were concealed in a central turret while the prisoners visible cells surrounded
note the octagonal shape.


We have from early on been introduced to cameras, surveillance, watching, tracking, spies...Aside from the obvious surveillance equipment in Lost I think that the island is riddled with trial pieces and possibly perfected pieces of surveillance technology, I'll talk about the possible candidates for 'surveillance equipment' in a minute.


Before I get into the surveillance stuff.................I think we are now able to consider that the island can move in time, best evidence for this is when Ben feels the need to check the year after he has moved the island. The island may have originated in 2342 then moved and 'dropped anchor' in 1800 then moved again to 2250 then to 2bc then to 1971, When the island does 'drop anchor' people seem to be able to get off and interact with the surrounding world, my point is we don't know when it has 'dropped anchor' and who or what (technology/ideas) has come and gone with it.


I suppose with this theory I am trying to explain the following.


When Juliette is alone with Sayid and Sawyer "She remarks about how strange it is that Sayid and Sawyer have begun to cast moral judgment, given the crimes they have committed in the past. She mentions an unknown incident in Basra involving Sayid, and reveals that she knows about Sawyer killing a man in cold blood the night before his flight."


How on earth did the others come to know this apparently unknowable information?


Basically I believe the island is a surveillance technology trial facility. Meaning, some organisation has a goal to eventually replace the worlds need for cctv, judge, jury, police force.
When one of the islands pieces of technology is thoroughly tested and approved it will be implemented in the real world. Or maybe it already has?


**Surveillance EQUIPMENT**
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," wrote Arthur C. Clarke.


I have theorised numerous times about SMOKIE. In a nutshell....."There is no doubt in my mind of the Smoke Monsters function. It is one of many trial pieces of surveillance technology on the island.

Built to scan record and administer appropriate judgment on your memories. The long term goal of testing on the island is to find society a replacement for CCTV, police, judge and jury.

It is designed to 'live' under the cities pop up and scan random members of the public for law breaking. It maybe even has the right to judge on site.

Its frightening demeanor and familiar sounds such as the clicking receipt machine, the creaking and the horn are specifically designed to open the necessary areas of the brain for the scan.
Smokie appears to be a highly complex piece of kit that judges in a Biblical sense, where he seems to know if you 'heart seeks forgiveness' As we learn just before smokie kills eko, Eko claims he does not regret his actions.


From a surveillance perspective though Smokie appears to do the job as far as mind reading goes he is not very discrete and presumably can only act after a crime has been committed. If you were designing technology to protect the innocent presumably your aim would be to prevent crime before it happens.


ZanderWidmore posted a theory a few days ago mentioning that Carlton Cuse said "if we could see a bird’s eye view of the island that it would be a major clue as to what is going on in Lost."
This ties in nicely with my next idea on island surveillance equipment. Birds. I have not noticed this but according to wiki........"Birds can be heard several times throughout the series, usually preceding the arrival of The Monster."


And briefly say Hello to RoboSwift
Robo Swift is a real world surveillance product. Looks like a bird, flies like a bird is in fact a sneaky little camera.


The following image is from the recent ABC series "Masters of science fiction" episode "Watchbird".

The bird pictured is a fictional mechanical surveillance unit. Aside from concealing camera equipment the birds are programmed to sense crime before it takes place (much like the technology attached to Vegas surveillance systems, humans give off disappointingly standard body-language/bio signals prior to committing a crime) thus The "Watchbirds" (also fitted with fire power) basically have the ability (proximity permitting), to stop a crime before it takes place. (Note When Ben 'calls' the monster in 409 he is quite uneasy, Ben knows that the monster, when released will target the humans with the strongest intent to kill.)
The Watchbird really made me think about the Hurley bird. Just before the Hurley bird swoops down you get a shot that seems to come from "Bird Cam".


Next we have Walt and his birds, lets assume that the bird that crashes into Walt's window is a 'camera bird' that is programmed to fly to the scene of a stressed individual and record the scene. As Walt's anger builds the bird slams into the window, if for theory's sake that bird senses stress patterns then Walt's stress signals must be unnaturally strong. Similarly in the room 23 mobisode Juliet shows Ben outside Walts room where there are numerous dead birds. Presumably being locked in a windowless room would really enrage Walt,
Is this what makes Walt special? He makes the otherwise flawless equipment act strangely? I'll get back to this in a minute.


So if the island is a test bed for progressive surveillance technology then what would be a logical progression. Thinking from a crime busting perspective, birds are good but what could be better? What could survail humans more effectively than..............other Humans. I know you will hate this but......


I'll start with what I think is the best evidence


"Don't stand there, looking at me with those horrible eyes of yours"............."I know who you are, boy. What you are"


I laughed when I heard that, I thought the horrible eyes comment from Widmore was a bit juvenile but on second inspection.


"with those horrible eyes of yours"


From a surveillance perspective this would be brilliant, I'm not talking Robots or Aliens here but humans that unknowingly/knowingly piggyback sophisticated technology. What better evidence for judgment can you get than primary. Imagine a plan for every human to be equipped with an eye cam, the 'watcher' of the data would have some serious power.


Before you think this is ridiculous consider the significance of the eye in Lost, Lockes eye, Lockes scar on eye, Jack's eye, everyones eye, eyeland, oceanic logo, Chalie's tat "Living is Easy with Eyes Closed", the Swan mural, Cindy's "were here to watch" etc etc etc




Who else could be a candidate for possessing the 'eye cam'?


Damon Lindelof said of Mikhail "What's shocking is, you don't even know how he lost his eye." I can just see the militant Mikhail discovering he was part of the surveillance network and spooning out his own eye.




What about our losties?


In another earlier podcast when talking about the glass eye...
**Carlton Cuse:**Well, actually, the flashbacks are from the perspective of the eyeball... [Both laugh] Oh, you almost spit up your coffee... [Damon coughs] That was good. Look at that. [Carlton pats his back as he coughs]

**Damon Lindelof:** That was not the... [Cough] I'm good...

**Carlton Cuse:** Ok, there...

**Damon Lindelof:** That was not the answer I was anticipating... but perfectly responsive in every way.



I know it seems sort of silly that the losties might have cameras in their eyes but I think there is some credibility to it and I can see it developing into a frightening and compelling story.


Back to Walt in the room 23 mobisode. When he is locked in room 23 Juliet claims that she and the others are scared of him.


**JULIET:** He did it again

**BEN:** Did what again?

**JULIET:** You know.

**BEN:** Well, you're going to have to tell him to stop doing it.

**JULIET:** I'm not going in there.

**BEN:** Fine. Get Beatrice.
**JULIET:** She is not going in there either Ben. None of them will. Tom won't even bring him food. They're all scared.


The others know they possess surveillance equipment so when they witness him destroying the airborne equipment they of course are scared, if he can do that to the birds, what will he do to them?


Though I 100% believe that parts of the island or maybe the island itself is a surveillance tool it is unclear whether
**a.** this frightening level of surveillance already exists in the world and the island is the HQ for all data
**b.** that the island is the shield designed to prevent the implementation of this technology in the world


Juliet knowing about Sawyers murder the night before the flight and details of Sayid's torturing, could not be known by anyone other that the parties involved.


a. When the Losties arrived on the island their memories were somehow extensively collected, 'read' and the others were able to 'watch' his memories.
b. The real world is already riddled with surveillance technology and the others have access to 'watch' surveillance footage taken in the real world. When finding the names of the passengers all they had to do was retrospectively, source and 'watch' the relevant footage from their database.


I think there is some credibility to the fact that the technology may already be rolled out in the real world.


**Judgement**
If the island is a production / test facility for various different types of surveillance equipment, it may also be a test facility for the next part of the criminal apprehension process, the judgment. Smokie appears to be an attempt at an all in one criminal defense system, analyse, judge, execute punishment if necessary.

In another episode of the "Masteres of Science Fiction" titled "Little Brother". Set in the future, a man is apprehended from a crime, taken to court and we are introduced to his jury who are.............the dead, yes dead not in a rotting corpse sense but a computer generated version of them. Their consciousness is farmed and their "collective intelligence and experience reside in a chamber" below the court


This really reminded me of the whispers and ties in well with the idea that the island was/is a facility for the attempted perfection of the crime and punishment process.


**APPLICATION for this equipment**


Aside from the obvious financial benefit of owning and waiting for the right time to distribute such technology into the world there may be another benefit which would go some way to explaining the time travel/loop/all knowing aspects of the show.


When coupled with the islands apparent ability to move in time I this vast bank of surveillance data could be very useful to anyone with access to it


KEAMY: It's the secondary protocol.



GAULT: What does it say?



KEAMY: Says where Linus is going.


GAULT: How would Mr. Widmore know that?


KEAMY: 'Cause he's a very smart man,


As an stab in the dark example.......Lets say the island originated in the future, where this technology was developed. The island was then booted way back in time (technology and equipment aboard) and discovered say in the egyptian period, time goes on, the magical island is revered and kept secret. Maybe it moves again one or twice but eventually this piggybacking surveillance equipment was harnessed/discovered/developed was released in birds/people/animals/etc?!?! in the world. All the surveillance data collected from the 'eyes' around the world is streamed live and stored on a ........lets say, a powerful quantum computer based on the island, (I say a quantum computer because Quantum computers are being developed primarily to store, organise and retrieve massively complex data , incidentally a quantum computer could behave like a giant magnet)


So for arguments sake, the island possesses a CPU for all complex surveillance data collected from ?-? time moves on and this is all stored. Then if the island were to move back again in time say to the 1800 (black rock era), anyone finding the island and looking at that surveillance data would effectively be able to 'see' the future. I guess like Eloise, any one watching parts of this stored data could learn the run before it has happened. Is this how Hanso accumulated its wealth. Not by changing the future a Ms' Hawkins stated but by riding the future.


I think that anyone that has full access to the island both Ben and Widmore (maybe others, Christian Paik) have at some point 'watched' parts of the future play out via this "surveillance archive" Hence when Ben say that Widmore changed the rules, was he saying that Widmore had performed an act that contradicted the expected events.


The last two paragraphs maybe go some way to explaining how Ben seems to know everything about various people he meets. With such a vast data bank of information it's not like you would be able to remember every detail of the 'future' that would be like trying to memorise the internet. But if you had access to the CPU you could, given a bit of time go and check out the computer and gather your info (I believe The Temple will turn out to be the CPU location)


**Other thoughts**
Is the eye technology so advanced that it's inheritable? The technology is not 'fitted' but simply breeds through the population and almost impossible to detect? Are the losties parents in possession of the same equipment does this relate to the names.

Generally We have the older characters or parent characters with Biblical names, Benjamin, Christian,Thomas, then other names which represent the arts and sciences, Locke, Rousseau, Austin, Ford dare I suggest they are 'batch' related.
Should we draw a parallel with Walt bringing down birds and The island bringing down the plane? Does Walt possess a counter-surveillance device? Notice Ben also kept a controlled distance away from Charles. Are they opposites does one break the other?


This is has been a long theory............well done if you have struggled through! I have written a few other theories that tie into this surveillance idea, about Des's flashes and some other bits.


If lost does turn out to be about surveillance, what the point? The writers have said that lost is "ultimately about redemption" I think it is supposed to challenge our perception of good and evil, and our current systems for dealing with judgment. If that kind of level of surveillance existed in our world would it be a good thing. Would it make the judging process any easier. For example, Given you were able to see video evidence of racist man that mistreats women, takes pleasure in killing small animals, shoots an innocent man in the head, brutally strangles another man the judgement would be simple? Yet this is Sawyer, you know the misery of his background and believe you can gauge his intentions, you are watching him, even with a lifetimes worth of primary evidence, Is he guilty? Would you imprison him? Who is evil and who is good. Nothing is black and white.


Dharma shields itself with Buddhist imagery but is this the real heart of Dharma?