Then we have the Statue foot with only 4 toes. WTF?
Obviously the race that once inhabited the island worshipped Homer Simpson.
Here's what I would posit as the first draft of a "grand unified theory" of the Island:
1) There is a magnetic anomaly on or beneath the island that has all sorts of strange properties and which may be a purely natural phenomenon. It certainly pre-dates Hanso's interest. The fact that the anomaly exists drew Hanso to the island, they didn't create it, and they don't understand it. (Though they tried to harness it.) It is also possible that the hypothetical four-toed race that inhabited the island long ago created the magnetic phenomenon, or at least did as Hanso has done and built hidden machinery to exploit it.
2) One of the inherent properties of the island is the force field which renders both the main island and its immediate surroundings - including one or more other islands or atolls - effectively invisible at most wavelengths of electromagnetic engery, including visible light.
3) The field is not uniform. Along some axes ships and planes (or other objects with sufficient metal content that get close enough) can be drawn into it. Along others (at least one of which is known) ships, etc. can leave.
4) The EM phenomenon affect biological, as well as physical systems. This would explain the unexpected healings (Rose, Locke, Jin) and the quarrantine.
5) Hanso/Dharma somehow discovered the island (or islands) and built a research facility aimed at exploiting all aspects of the natural EM anomaly. To this end they brought specimens, including human volutneers, on which to conduct various experiments even while they were building machinery to control or modify IMA-1. (Island Magnetic Anomaly 1 for those of you who haven't seen 2001 a hundred times. )
6) In addition to seeking to extend the Human lifespan (a search for the Fountain of Youth, in effect, and legends of earlier visitors to the island may have been the source of that idea) and cure disease, Hanso was probably seeking to induce, study and exploit paranormal powers like telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation. It may be such psi abilities are able to defeat the islands defenses and are what allowed some ships in times past to find the island, and to leave it. (Because if someone hadn't been there and escaped, it could never have come to Hanso's attention.) Maybe the heading Henry gave Michael is arbitrary, and that the real reason he is able to leave the island is that he has Walt with him. Or maybe you need to both be on the proper heading and have someone with psi abilities in order to escape. Either way, that would explain why the Others wanted Walt, and why they lost interest in the raft after they siezed Walt. They would have known that there was no way the raft could escape the island. (Presumably Henry gave Michael a heading that would intersect with a major shipping lane and lead to rescue, since there is no way that boat held food, water or fuel to cross any substantial amount of ocean, and it is unlikely that IMA-1 lies very close to any major landmass or inhabited area.)
7) There was an "incident", perhaps two, which changed everything. I think whatever Hanso/Dharma did to modify IMA-1 started a runaway magnetic reaction, like the one we saw when Locke prevented Eko from entering the numbers. This may have been the result of bad design or a technical failure in Dharma's equipment, or they may have triggered a self-destruct mechanism left behind by the Ancient Race that used tolive on the Island. Dharma's equipment was somehow responsible. They had the fail-safe switch to disable all of their gear (perhaps permanently), but they didn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary, because that would ruin the experiment and set them back years, perhaps decades. They somehow figured out that they could reset the doomsday countdown and implemented the number system. (That may have really been built as a psychological test and the hardware been adapated on short-notice to staving off catastrophe. Probably no one expected the system to be in use for more than a couple of days, as they would have probably called for help and sat back to wait for "him" to arrive and save them all.
8) Nothing about the Dharma initiative suggests that they had access to truly advanced technologies, much less the kind of super science implied by the "monster" which whoever drew the hatch map called a "security system". One workable hypothesis is that the original inhabitants of the island did have access to such technology, and were an advanced civilization along the lines posited in some versions of the Atlantis myth. Which would mean the "monster" is their security system. It may be running on automatic, with the original people of the island either extinct or long gone. Perhaps they hid the island from view when they abandoned it. Or there may be some remnant of them (perhaps living apart, perhaps infiltrated into the Losties or the Others) that still directs it.
9) There are suggestions that the "monster" may be telepathic, perhaps even sentient, since it seems to either read memories or to induce people to recall things. Maybe the moster is the one who determines who is "good" and who "bad". Maybe the monster is one of those hoary SF cliches, the automatic defense system that goes on carrying out the last instructions of its masters. It could also be the artificial intelligence or system that achieves genuine sentience on its own, as a by-product of all it learns. Either way, it may be working to ensure that what happens on the island stays on the island, by keeping the outside world from finding the place or using its advanced technology for evil purposes. (Hence killing the pilot before he can tell Jack and company too much, scanning and releasing both Locke and Ecko, who seem fundamentally begnin in their intentions, etc.)
10) It may be that the Others see themselves as "the good guys" because they've discovered some of the island's secrets and intend to keep them. They aren't overtly hostile to the Losties, they're just mostly indifferent to them until and unless they do something to get in the way of their plans. Conversely they may want to exploit the discoveries themselves when the right moment arrives to escape.
Thoughts? Corrections? Derisive laughter?
Regards,
Joe
Addendum 29 May 2006 19:19 EDT
Michael was supposed to lead them back to the Others camp, but when Sayid set off the signal, Jack said it was miles away instead of close by... and Michael acted like he'd never seen that big pile o' journals before. So how come they were so far off course?
Michael was never supposed to lead them to the Other's camp. He was supposed to lead Jack and company into a trap miles away from the camp. They no doubt gave him directions to someplace he'd never been, which is why he didn't recognize the pile of tubes. They weren't going to take any chances with the Losties. They wanted them in a controlled area when they sprung the trap, and they wanted them all alive. That's why they had people in position to shadow them, and why they turned and ran rather than takiing the lot of them out when the Losties opened fire on them. They probably had to spring the trap a bit early since they (probably) would have been taken by surprise by Sayyid's signal, but it al worked out from their perspective.
