We saw the film...and I agree with locke, we need to see it again. We need to pull up the transcripts on it and set a few things straight. I see a lot of wild assumptions and connections being made that I do not see. So, I am going to use what I have in my notes, followed by rational assumptions, and see if we can try to sort some things out. 1)"You are in station #3, the Swan." - There is at least station 1 and 2 somewhere. - The symbol with the swan on it is to identify everything as belonging to that station, easily, on sight. Maybe to avoid contamination? 2)"you and your partner" -nobody was meant to be down there alone 3)the Dharma initiative was started in 1970 -if the plane crash was in Sep of 2005 as assumed...then the Dharma project was started 35 years earlier, 19 years before Danielle got there, heard/changed the transmission. (This would line up with the 40 years guess of Jack, but has not been confirmed in any way) (where is the transmission of the specific bunker code coming from then? I would assume the bunker it's assigned to, but that would mean that it was unmanned at the time) 4)Dharma project was started as a communal research compound. A utopia for scientists -then it was never meant for isolation......that came later. 5)you will have a 540 day stay -for you number buffs, that would be 1.47 years, 17.64 months, 70.56 weeks,12960 hours,777600 minutes and they would have pushed the button 7200 times in that period. 6) The bunker was originally a lab set up to study the electromagnetic fluctuations on that part of the island -the fluctuations were a natural phenomanon, not created nor controled by them. -the fluctuations were in that part of the island, it was not said that they were anywhere else. -scientists were there on the island at some time before the bunker became station 3 7)there was an incident, we have taken measures (the code and button) -the last group died, and maybe were not found out for a while, or something was allowed to get out/loose that wasn't supposed to be. So the code now allows them a warning that the crew may not be safe and containment/help can happen quickly. -at no time was it in the film that the world would end. -it is possible that containment could include blowing up the island. ok...it was also noted that the alarm would alert them 108 mins after the last time that the code was put in, and they would have 4 mins to respond. So the code could be as much as 112 mins between entries. (I know, I'm nit picking, I just don't like the number theories) This could have several reasons. If this is a psychological experiment, then waking someone up every 108 mins could break them down faster. Even in teams...that is still not much sleep. But I would like to go beyond that..... Thinking about the polar bears, the shark, and this illness-yet-to-be-seen, what if they only have 108 mins from the time of a disaster to safely contain it? That would make sense then that the code would have to be put in every 108 mins. I does seem like such and odd number to be pulled out of thin air. Yes, I am well aware that adding the numbers on the hatch comes to 108 as well...but it could be just a fluke, or some of those brainy type lab dwellers could have thought it was funny, or a group of those writers for the show could have thought it would be cool to watch everyone chasing their tails trying to apply the numbers to everything from religion to astrology. I'd like to think that even if they don't tell us...there is a perfectly rational explaination for everything.http://www.livejournal.com/community/pondering_lost/86389.html#cutid1check link for oringinal content and comments