# Lost 2.1: "Man of Science, Man of Faith" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631 "2005-09-21T00:46:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/241 "2005-09-22T20:38:29Z")
> [@ronincyberpunk](#): > > The Marseille Rousseau thing is interesting but don’t you think that guy would have stuff, or people would talk about him online? Google turns up nothing on it or his theory. I think it’s false… That’s why I thought it might just be an accurate fictional theory, leaked online. That’s why I’d like to see the original posting on that other message board. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/242 "2005-09-22T20:39:13Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > That’s why I thought it might just be an accurate fictional theory, leaked online. That’s why I’d like to see the original posting on that other message board. Somebody I work with told me it was on the “general” discussion board over at the ABC Lost site, if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![AndyPolley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@AndyPolley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyPolley)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/243 "2005-09-22T20:42:01Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > That’s why I thought it might just be an accurate fictional theory, leaked online. That’s why I’d like to see the original posting on that other message board. I believe I read the same thing while lurking about in the [ABC.com](http://ABC.com) Lost threads last night. I haven’t found it yet, but you can start [here.](http://forums.go.com/abc/primetime/lost/forum?start=0&forumID=18&byThread=true) I seem to recall a few posters claiming BS on this theory too. ---
**Author:** ![AndyPolley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@AndyPolley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyPolley)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/244 "2005-09-22T20:45:32Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > That’s why I’d like to see the original posting on that other message board. Ah…[found it.](http://forums.go.com/abc/primetime/lost/thread?threadID=560350&forumStart=60) ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/245 "2005-09-22T20:47:44Z")
Found the original thread on the abc forums: [here](http://forums.go.com/abc/primetime/lost/thread?threadID=560350#6296846) Also interesting follow ups: [here](http://forums.go.com/abc/primetime/lost/thread?threadID=563037#6303227) and [here](http://forums.go.com/abc/primetime/lost/thread?threadID=563063#6303363) ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/246 "2005-09-22T20:48:19Z")
That didn’t take long. I just looked for the post with the most responses! > **[Go](http://go.com?threadID=560350&forumStart=60)** > > Go is the top-level home on the Internet to the online properties of The Walt Disney Company. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/247 "2005-09-22T21:17:01Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > So if there’s a supermagnet dragging Locke through the jungle and the black smoke is a cloud of metal flecks/side effect…how is a magnet dragging Locke? Is he the only one in the group with a big-ass metal plate in his head? > > Because if he’d been getting dragged along by his forehead that would have been fun-ny. > > -Joe It’s theoretically possible to move humans through a magnetic field. I know they’ve used it to levitate a frog. Hey, they said it had a scientific explanation, not necessarily an accurate one! ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/248 "2005-09-22T21:24:09Z")
Anyone have any ideas on how you get out of the hatch? Do you think it will have an exterior exit to some flat part of the island? With a doorbell on it? And a sign that says “No Castaways”? ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/249 "2005-09-22T21:49:51Z")
> [@I is smart](#): > > Did anyone else think that Desmond’s routine was creepy? I know his isolation could explain the fastidiousness, but it seemed more sinister almost like one of those fussy serial killers. It would explain why he is washing his dishes before washing them in the dishwasher. But is he washing them before putting them in the dishwasher? Or is he just washing them instead of puting them in the dishwasher as something for him to do? You can’t spend ALL your time working out and doing whatever experiments need doing. What else might you do to kill the time? Do chores. > [@ronincyberpunk](#): > > Now the question becomes, did he know they were digging the entrance up? Did he know and not do anything? Did he not know? But the entrance isn’t far from his main room, why didn’t he know? My guess is that the hatch is sound proofed. No sound in or out. And they were only digging up the entrance, it doesn’t look like he hangs out near the entrance very often, if at all. So he probably didn’t even know they were up there until the explosion. > [@vivalostwages](#): > > Would it be a bad idea to play the “bad numbers” in the lottery? Been done by quite a few people. Not me, but one of my friends did heh. > [@flex727](#): > > Could you be more specific about that link? [Lostlinks.net](http://Lostlinks.net) is nothing but more links. Which one contains the audio you mention? [Here you go. Direct link.](http://lost.cubit.net/audio/walt_audio.wav) The [symbol](http://www.thetailsection.com/) (scroll down a little) does look a lot like the [Bagua](http://www.sunvalleyusa.com/Merchant2/fs/bagua.gif). Why could they be using that one though? I haven’t read the other link about it, I think I will shortly. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/250 "2005-09-22T21:56:16Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Wait’ll you find out Desmond’s full name – Desmond Ex Machina. Forgive me for going all-over Robert Anton Wilson on this, but it’s fun: “Desmond” is derived from the Gaelic _“Deas Mhumhan”_, “[from] South Munster.” “Mhumhan” was a pre-Christian Celtic kingdom, named for the goddess Muma. I can’t find anything specific about the _Celtic_ Muma, but an other pre-Christian European “Muma” sounds a little familiar: > [@](#): > > [Link](http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/M/Mu/Muma_Padurii.htm) > Muma Padurii is a spirit of the forest in a very ugly old woman’s body. She lives in a dark, dreadful, hidden little house. This (step-) mother of the forest kidnaps little children and enslaves them. > [@](#): > > [PDF link](http://www.onf.fr/pro/life/periurb/pdf/bouras_GB.pdf) > If the wife is at home when she feels labour coming on, she sits down on the hearth. At its birth, if the child cries a lot, incantations have to be sung against the “Mother of the forests” (“sa î-se descînte de Muma-Paduri”). This figure has been called the old woman of the village (“moasa”): she buries a glass where the beams cross; it contains some water, three white seeds, three hemp seeds, an iron nail and some incense, all this is called “the old woman’s water” (“apa de moasa”). The baby is sprinkled with it. Then everybody goes to the church where the priest will bless it with “his own water”: well, yes, that is what the holy water is called! Amongst the Motii there was an intermediate situation. The old woman baptised it and said: “I took it away from you as a pagan, I return it to you as a Christian.” The connection is very tenuous, of course – but it’s interesting that Desmond’s name leads one fairly easily to a baby-snatching woman who lives in a hidden shack in the woods. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/251 "2005-09-22T21:58:52Z")
When did the phrase “SUV” enter the lexicon? ---
**Author:** ![jmizzou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jmizzou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmizzou)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/252 "2005-09-22T22:00:31Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > Any glaring holes that I’ve missed? I like it. The only thing missing is Claire’s baby and Walt. Where do Walt’s “powers” come from? Why make them both so special? Perhaps they were injected/infested _in utreo_? (My pet theory - which works nicely with yours, given what we now know - is that it’s nanobots being developed, not a virus or anti-virus. It still explains the healing, the craziness, the medicine, the computers, and the quarantine, but also the black cloud dragging Locke. However, it’s a bit too Michael Crichton, so I doubt it will pan out.) I think that supplies are getting to Desmond through some other entrance. It looks like a big island, as the Rafters commented in the Season 1 finale, so why not more than one entrance? Indeed, we know the island is large enough to hide a small aircraft, a slave ship, and the tail section survivors. ---
**Author:** ![I\_is\_smart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6de8d8/32.png) [@I\_is\_smart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_is_smart)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/253 "2005-09-22T22:06:05Z")
I would have thought that Desmond is Latin-y and is Deus Munde or Monde or whatever worl is in Latin. God of the World would be creepy given his lordly position on/under the island. What a juxtaposition! ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/254 "2005-09-22T22:24:01Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Probably about a million people have already thought of that. If any of them got rich, I’m sure we’d have heard it by now. I can attest that I tried the Bad Numbers in Keno on my last casino trip. The only thing evil that happened to me was that I was down $1. That proves the numbers are cursed! > [@flutterby](#): > > My guess is that the hatch is sound proofed. No sound in or out. And they were only digging up the entrance, it doesn’t look like he hangs out near the entrance very often, if at all. So he probably didn’t even know they were up there until the explosion. Except that in the episode where Boone died, Locke was pounding on the hatch door and the BAL (Big ass light) shown through the window. Desmond had to know they were up there. In fact, he probably rigged the mirror set up becaus of that. There has to be another entrance because the hatch was buried and with the vegetation over it, it must have been buried for a while (unless it was designed to look that way). I like the theory of the nerve drug. It might also explain Locke’s temporary relapse. He might have needed another dose. (and got it when he was pounding on the hatch). I hope Shannon gets some rest and pretties herself up for later episodes. Scruffy Shannon just doesn’t do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/255 "2005-09-22T22:25:04Z")
The first use of the term “SUV” in the L.A. Times is in January of 1995. Didn’t Jack live in Southern California? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/256 "2005-09-22T22:31:41Z")
Now, I’m picturing Desmond showing Jack, Locke and Kate around his lair, pointing his gun and saying, “I told you people not to use the hatch! All you had to do was come around the side and knock!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/257 "2005-09-22T22:46:57Z")
According to allmusic, “Make Your Own Kind of Music” was actually a Cass Elliot solo recording from c. 1967. The song was written by the team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/258 "2005-09-22T22:51:15Z")
> [@jmizzou](#): > > I like it. The only thing missing is Claire’s baby and Walt. Where do Walt’s “powers” come from? Why make them both so special? Perhaps they were injected/infested _in utreo_? My theory is that they are red herrings, more or less. Claire’s psychic may have arranged to put her on fligh 815, because \*they \*needed a child for the experiment. But, after Rousseau injected her, Turniphead was ruined for their needs. So, in a pinch, they took Walt. Neither of them have any real supernatural significance. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/259 "2005-09-22T23:12:57Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > Except that in the episode where Boone died, Locke was pounding on the hatch door and the BAL (Big ass light) shown through the window. Desmond had to know they were up there. In fact, he probably rigged the mirror set up becaus of that. Or was the mirror stuff already set up? The light showing when Locke pounded on the door could concievably have been just a coincidence. Hatch!Desmond going on about his ‘day’ inside. Locke banging all pissed off on the hatch. Hatch!Desmond decides to flick on some lights so he can see something. The Hatch was well hidden. Remember, Locke and Boone didn’t find it until they dropped the flashlight on top of it. So _why_ would the guy who is inside, and obviously doesn’t want to be found (or else why all the guns to protect if found?) flick on a light at the exact time that someone is banging on the hatch. If someone comes knocking and I don’t want them to know I’m around I certainly don’t flick on a light! ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631/260 "2005-09-22T23:19:16Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > posted on another mb: > > [begin copied post] > I recently found an interesting naturally occurring theory found in our world that states everyone has a mirror image somewhere in the world. You may have heard of this. Its called Rousseau’s genetic mirror theory, and I must say it is very interesting. Rousseau’s genetic mirror theory says that everyone in the world has an exact twin somewhere, however according to the theory you never encounter this person, by laws of probability and other natural occurring phenomenon. { DELETED BY MODERATOR } [/ copied post] I think, if anything, this is a leaked plot point. Go [here](http://oceanicflight815.com/) and click on the little barcode looking thing at the very bottom of the page. Then type in theislandiswaiting I know the script says that it’s a page from the episode we just watched, and there was nothing like this in last night’s show, but it could be something that will come up later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-2-1-man-of-science-man-of-faith/322631.md?page=14)