Push the button/Theories

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Theories about Push the button

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Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc). More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response. See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

Contents 1 Purpose 1.1 Dead Man's Switch 2 Technique 3 Misc.

Purpose

• Pushing the button resets a field of some kind that hides the island from the rest of the world.
• The button procedure was used because the people responsible for the Swan were unsure what the result of initiating the failsafe procedure would be. Keeping two active agents on duty, as well as observing them from the Pearl, helped ensure that immediate action could be taken if something unexpected happened.
• The electromagnetic discharge alerts the Monster to kill any threat on the island (i.e. someone with the knowledge or strength). After the incident, the monster became slightly changed which makes it unsure who is a threat.
• Longevity, as in Richard Alpert's case, so that they may continue doing their studies.
  • If Richard was aware of the Swan station and relied on it for his survival, it seems strange that he and the other Others would leave it unused and unguarded for so long, and that Ben would tempt Locke into destroying the station.
  • Furthermore, in the March 20, 2007 Official Lost Podcast, it was revealed that the Others had little knowledge of the Swan station.
• The Island's unique electromagnetic properties cause it to be naturally "unstuck in time" aka time on the island passes at a different rate than time in the rest of the world. The button, which needed to be pressed every 108 minutes, somehow synchronized island time and world time, effectively anchoring the island to the rest of the world. If the button was not pressed in time, the space-time continuum would be permanently damaged (pushing the button supposedly saves the world), but the fail-safe key remedied the situation by simply letting the to different time rates drift apart. Thus the island used to be in sync with the rest of the world, but now time is moving at a different rate.
  • This would explain why the newspaper Ben showed Juliet before the plane crashed had the correct date relative to the rest of the world, but later, Faraday's time experiments showed the island to be existing at a different "time rate".
  • This also would explain why the failsafe key was not immediately used: There are negative consequences to using it, but it is necessary if the button is not pressed.

Dead Man's Switch

• Pushing the button vents the electromagnetic energy to prevent a massive magnetic discharge that could damage/destroy the whole island. As Mikhail Bakunin mentions in "Enter 77", the members of the Dharma Initiative attacked "the hostiles" in the past. Perhaps this event, possibly The Incident, would have led to the implementation of this "dead-man's switch". In case of the invasion of the Swan by the hostiles, they would not know the code to input, and would consequently be killed, or at least forced to leave the station.
• Pushing the button is a dead-man's switch. The threat of a runaway magnetic discharge deters the monster from killing the Swan crew. Once the scientists are done with their work (or have left the island or are dead), the discharge is supposed to happen.
  • Though, 108 minutes does not seem like it would be enough time for any researcher to 'get clear' of the electromagnetic discharge.

Technique

• The button must be pressed by hand because the bad luck associated with the numbers causes any automated system that enters them to fail. Fuses blow, computers explode...etc. Whenever an automated system is turned on, the equipment fails for no good reason.
• The numbers must be entered by hand because they act as constants that help anchor consciousness in time against the islands effect that tends to set it adrift. They must be reaffirmed so frequently because of the presence of high levels of electromagnetic radiation. The numbers usefulness as an anchor is related to their prevalence through different time periods.

Misc.

• Ben encouraged Locke to stop pressing the button because he was afraid of being transported away from the island. In other words, Ben suspected that the Swan was a time machine or teleportation device.
  • This theory fails on three counts. First, if Ben wanted to use the Swan as a teleporter, he presumably could have done so by not pushing the button himself during "Lockdown". Second, there is no apparent reason why Ben, or anyone else, would think that the Swan was any sort of transporter. Third, Ben consistently does everything in his power to prevent people from coming to or leaving the island; it makes no sense, then, that he would encourage the use of something he thought was a transporter, rather than discouraging its use by trying to get Locke to keep pushing the button.
• Ben encouraged Locke to stop pushing the button because he knew the electromagnetic discharge that comes about from not entering the numbers in time would destroy all communications on the island, therefore ensuring that no one (especially his own people) could leave the island.
  • This seems plausible, except that Ben already had a station that was preventing all communication with the outside world: the Looking Glass.
• Ben definitely knew about the Pearl Station and had been there before the purge so it's likely he knew what it did. If he had watched the orientation video there he would believe that the Swan Station was just a psychological experiment and the button did nothing. Therefore he might assume that it was safe to try to stop Locke pushing the button - the Others would know he was invested in it from the Pearl video feeds, and if he made Locke angry enough he might make a mistake, giving him a chance to escape.
  • This wouldn't explain why Ben evidently did push the button himself: if he believed that the Swan was just a psychological experiment, he might have pretended to Locke that he had pushed the button, but it's unlikely that he would have bothered to push it himself.
  • Alternatively Ben could have been trying to prevent Locke being a slave to something he believed to be useless - he believes Locke is special and one of the 'good ones'.
• Ben told Locke to stop pushing the button to test his faith in the island and the purpose. This would prove to Ben, and possibly Jacob, that Locke wasn't "special". Ben wanted to continue being Jacob's right-hand man.