Doomsday Weapon Facade (theory)

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Description:

The Dharma Initiative was the new Manhattan Project, with the aim to develop an electromagnetic doomsday weapon for the US Government by manipulating the parameters of the Valenzetti Equation. The US Government had no intention to discharge the weapon at maximum force but rather to employ it as a threat factor against potential threats after the manner of nuclear weapons. The military objective of the mission was kept secret under the facade of a civilian research project (cf. Swan Orientation Film). Apart from a small privileged group, most of the scientists initially assigned for the project were unaware of its true military objectives. In short, the Hanso Foundation acts as the weapons supplier and the US Government as the client.

However, a very powerful individual within the Hanso Foundation also entertained a further hidden agenda known only to "him" and to the aforementioned privileged group of zealot scientists under his direct command (known to the islanders as “the Others”). Even the USG was unaware of the underlying sinister utopian agenda – the creation of a new race of men -- perfect physically, intellectually, emotionally, morally and psychically -- to repopulate the Earth after the annihilation of mankind as we know it. "Him" and the zealot scientists, in violation of Hanso Foundation's procurement contract with the US Government, plan to let the Valenzetti parameters run their course (resulting in the Apocalypse) in order to accomplish these ends, but only after the superhuman DNA has been created and an embryonic utopian society of perfect humans formed. The creation of the superhuman requires genes from specially endowed individuals in terms of their physical prowess, intelligence, psychic abilities, emotional traits and moral excellence. The zealots believe the island serves as a kind of a Noah's Ark (Noah's Ark (Theory)), protecting its inhabitants in the event of an apocalypse.

To pursue "his" agenda in utmost secrecy, "he", exploiting the resources of the Hanso Foundation, employs a superbly intricate selection mechanism for gathering initial unwitting candidates. This time around, the candidates were brought to the island on the Oceanic Flight 815. Following a series of tests, including social, psychological and moral ones, the best candidates are screened and captured for closer laboratory tests and for samples to be taken from their DNA. The resulting experimental vaccines are tested on infants or young children with varying results and side-effects (the sickness). Beta-tested vaccines of fewer side-effects are also self-administered by Hanso's workers, enduing them with certain "superhuman" abilities. Some of the tested children are brought up as members and future leaders of a “utopian society” envisaged by "him". After the annihilation of mankind, the embryonic society of superhumans forms the germ from which a new race of men evolves by means of cloning as well as natural means.

The best venue for such a top secret project is an island which cannot be located. Operating the electromagnetic device on lower charges serves, moreover, as an excellent instrument for orchestrating plane crashes and other accidents. The powerful geomagnetic concentration in the island exerts also a mysterious healing influence, often associated with magnetism in many traditional medical doctrines.

In order to allow the electromagnetic parameter of the Valenzetti Equation to perform its mathematical function (i.e. free flow of the electromagnetic force into the world), the zealot scientists orchestrated an incident (the discharge) by persuading the Swan Station scientists to extend the build-up cycle. A build-up beyond the threshold levels would impel the scientists to carry out a discharge at critical levels which, in turn, would destroy the station as the zealots had hoped. However, the zealots' attempt to implode the station failed as the surviving Swan scientists managed to transform the only remaining computer into a makeshift device for operating the electromagnetic charge. The Swan scientists, now aware of the mutiny, reported to their HQ and were forced to guard the station against "the hostiles". As the USG learned about the mutiny, it left a small team for what remained of the Dharma Initiative to manage the electromagnetic charge (Kelvin's Dam (theory) and to guard it against the zealots. A system of replacements for the Swan crew was developed. All other stations were abandoned as the Dharma Initiative was officially shut down in the aftermath of the incident. The Swan operation was supported via regular supply drops. The zealot scientists, however, continued to pursue their own mission with limited means. They are in control of another station on another nearby island which can be reached by the Pala Ferry. After the incident, the USG or powerful individuals within its nomenclature may have finally learned of the ultimate agenda of the Hanso renegades and attempt to capture or eliminate the hostiles in order to prevent a disaster of cataclysmic proportions. Some of the plane crash survivors may in fact be US agents, explaining partly the concerns of Ben, the apparent leader of the zealots. Some of Ben's subordinates, most notably Juliet, may however have come to secretly question his agenda.

The coincidences represent Fate and the island the Noah's Ark, bringing an element of faith, mystery and Divine Design into the overall scenario which "he", in all his genius, failed to take into account and ultimately leading to his undoing and the foiling of his elaborate plans. While the plane crash may have been orchestrated by Ben using an unwitting Desmond as an instrument, fate also played a role in the selection of the passengers, some of which were endowed with skills, motives and capacities which "he" was unable to calculate, and eventually enabling these neo-Biblical "chosen people" to prevent the impending Apocalypse.

This theory would also explain why the Others left the Swan alone-they feared it. This also explains why the discharge could not be done automatically -it was a dead man's switch. This also explains the statue it was a monument to the superhumans to come.

Pros:

Explains pretty much everything.
Draws credibly upon the ultimate premise of the story, namely the background and ideology of Alvar Hanso -- a man known to have been a leading arms purveyor and a new age idealist.

Cons:

The theory makes some unnecessary guess-work which cannot be either verified or falsified by facts.
Does not explain all details although admittedly most of them can be inferred from the theory.
Aside from Adam & Eve, Rousseau's expedition, Desmond and the real Henry Gale, there is no evidence of large groups of people being brought to the island for eugenic testing. The Black Rock is not explained at all, nor the four-toed statue. The monitoring "experiments" are also something of a stretch, as are the Monster, the whispers, and all the other mystical elements, though a case could be made for a splinter group of powerful psychics being behind these phenomena.
It would render certain quotes from characters meaningless or as pure means of persuasion. As for example Ms. Hawkins': "Unfortunately the universe has a way of correcting itself", or Ben's: "History is repeating itself". Further, the whole universe of science and philosophy that had been laid into LOST, in some kind of heroic effort, would be reduced to functioning as decoy for a weapon of mass destruction or an eugenic genocide project.