So when Juliet was being recruited to go to the island initially, she was looking at x-rays of someone that she guessed to be something like 75 years old... in actuality, the person was like 25, correct? So is it possible to be on the island for years and years, essentially growing older in wisdom, but not age physically? Or would it be just the opposite - you're on the island for ten years but apparently age by 40 years - or whatever the numbers work out to be?

I think the second choice would be what makes more sense... that would also explain why Richard doesn't age. He comes and goes often from the island but spends more time off of it than on it. What seems like a few days to him and the rest of the world actually seems like weeks or months to those on island... so they keep on aging while Richard hardly ages at all....

Now, as to Adam and Eve... did they really only arrive there like 5-10 years ago of "real world time" but have aged 50 or more years?

I have so much trouble understanding the time stuff. Is there slow time on this show or not? There's another thread saying there ISN'T. Please heeeeelp my confusion.

I have so much trouble understanding the time stuff. Is there slow time on this show or not? There's another thread saying there ISN'T. Please heeeeelp my confusion.

LOL Laura, maybe you and I should start a "all this time nonsense is confusing me!" ship? I'm right there with ya.

So when Juliet was being recruited to go to the island initially, she was looking at x-rays of someone that she guessed to be something like 75 years old... in actuality, the person was like 25, correct? So is it possible to be on the island for years and years, essentially growing older in wisdom, but not age physically? Or would it be just the opposite - you're on the island for ten years but apparently age by 40 years - or whatever the numbers work out to be?

I think the second choice would be what makes more sense... that would also explain why Richard doesn't age. He comes and goes often from the island but spends more time off of it than on it. What seems like a few days to him and the rest of the world actually seems like weeks or months to those on island... so they keep on aging while Richard hardly ages at all....

Now, as to Adam and Eve... did they really only arrive there like 5-10 years ago of "real world time" but have aged 50 or more years?

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you right now. But how would this explain the fact that Danielle has been on the island 16 years. Wouldn't she be dead by now?

I'd so join that ship!

The Economist made it seem like time moved more slowly on the island, but perhaps the rocket just became unstuck in time on the way.

This episode made it seem like time moved more quickly on the island. The helicopter was gone for 20 minutes (relative to their time) and on the island it had been over a day. This, if Richard spent more time off the island than on, would explain his age relative to Ben's. Daniel says something about how long time seems to have passed on the island was not what had actually passed for those on the helicopter. They were following the right bearing most of the way at least, although the momentary slip that causes Desmond's flashes could explain the difference.

Interestingly though, the freighter calendar had the same date we have been calculating.

So err... now I'm just really, massively confused.

The key is in the approach one takes in entering or leaving the island. You have to stay on a specific heading to navigate safely through the storm cloud/anomaly surrounding the island. The helicopter was slightly off Dan's heading, and took a day and a half to travel from island to freighter - it should have only taken 20 minutes. But from Sayid's perspective, no unusual amount of time passed. The only way he knew something was wrong was because the helicopter "left at dusk and landed in the afternoon." Basically, the helicopter was suspended/trapped/slowed down by the anomaly for the extra time. Outside the anomaly, ON ISLAND AND OFF, time passed normally.

So. A 25 year old woman was living on the island. She chose an unsafe heading while leaving the island. She became trapped in the anomaly in such a way that it took her 50 years to reach the other side. From her perspective, like Sayid's, no time had passed. She was still biologically 25. But outside the anomaly, an extra 50 years had passed, making it 75 years since the year of her birth. She was then a (technically) 75 year old woman with the womb of a 25 year old. Ta da!

Edit: D'oh! I got that completely backwards! The X-ray showed a womb with the damage of 75 years in the body of a 25 year old. So I have no idea what's going on. But it was a cool idea, wasn't it?

quizzical, i think that is a pretty good point that you made...it seems to make the most sense from what we've been given. This makes sense when compared with what we knew from Not in Portland. The anagram for Mittelos was Lost Time another hint that we just thought was funny at the time but could possibly be referencing the cause of the womb. After last nights episode of seamlessly giving us the cause of The Sickness and relating it to leaving the island I wouldn't put it past TPTB.

A 25 year old woman was living on the island. She chose an unsafe heading while leaving the island. She became trapped in the anomaly in such a way that it took her 50 years to reach the other side. From her perspective, like Sayid's, no time had passed. She was still biologically 25. But outside the anomaly, an extra 50 years had passed, making it 75 years since the year of her birth. She was then a (technically) 75 year old woman with the womb of a 25 year old. Ta da!Okay, but wouldn't a body need nutrients / water to age 50 years?

I think the key is that in Daniel's notes he calls it "imaginary" time.

I'd so join that ship!

The Economist made it seem like time moved more slowly on the island, but perhaps the rocket just became unstuck in time on the way.

I think time is moving slowly AROUND the Island, Not on.

This episode made it seem like time moved more quickly on the island.

From The economist i would have said the opposite...the time moved more slowlely on the island...

That's my understanding, as well, polusmaximus, at least for the moment :-)

I think time on the island and off the island is both (likely) the same and passing at the same rate. However, there is a "band" surrounding the island through which one must pass. There is a time dilation within this band, and likely several variables determine for any given object how quickly or slowly time within the band passes for the object relative to the island and the outside world.

This means, in theory, one could leave the island, spend a thousand years traveling through the band (you wouldn't notice the time dilation, by the way, until you emerged) and emerge two hours or so later on the other side. Or something like that ;-)

At least that's my understanding at the moment.

The key is in the approach one takes in entering or leaving the island. You have to stay on a specific heading to navigate safely through the storm cloud/anomaly surrounding the island. The helicopter was slightly off Dan's heading, and took a day and a half to travel from island to freighter - it should have only taken 20 minutes. But from Sayid's perspective, no unusual amount of time passed. The only way he knew something was wrong was because the helicopter "left at dusk and landed in the afternoon." Basically, the helicopter was suspended/trapped/slowed down by the anomaly for the extra time. Outside the anomaly, ON ISLAND AND OFF, time passed normally.

So. A 25 year old woman was living on the island. She chose an unsafe heading while leaving the island. She became trapped in the anomaly in such a way that it took her 50 years to reach the other side. From her perspective, like Sayid's, no time had passed. She was still biologically 25. But outside the anomaly, an extra 50 years had passed, making it 75 years since the year of her birth. She was then a (technically) 75 year old woman with the womb of a 25 year old. Ta da!

Except that the x-ray Juliet was looking at suggested a 75 year old woman. It was a 25 year old with the womb of a 75 year old, not the other way around.

Except that the x-ray Juliet was looking at suggested a 75 year old woman. It was a 25 year old with the womb of a 75 year old, not the other way around.

Yeah, I just realized that. :redface: My post has been edited to that effect. I still have no idea what's going on. But it was a really nifty idea!

Maybe this has nothing to do with time...maybe it has something to do with the fact that pregnant women die on the island. I don't remember Alpert saying that the x-rays were a living womans. What if the infection that pregnant women get on the island causes their reproductive system to age rapidly making it fatal for them to carry a baby to term? I'm not a doctor but I find it very hard to believe that a 75 year old body could withstand the demands of a child.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you right now. But how would this explain the fact that Danielle has been on the island 16 years. Wouldn't she be dead by now?

I'm thinking now that I'm totally off base but to go with my original post, it would be explained that Danielle thinks she's been on the island for 16 years but maybe she got on the island just a year ago (from Real World Time) and it seems that 16 years have passed...

Maybe this has nothing to do with time...maybe it has something to do with the fact that pregnant women die on the island. I don't remember Alpert saying that the x-rays were a living womans. What if the infection that pregnant women get on the island causes their reproductive system to age rapidly making it fatal for them to carry a baby to term? I'm not a doctor but I find it very hard to believe that a 75 year old body could withstand the demands of a child.

Well I think that they could both tie in together... time and the resulting death. But why would it only be their reproductive system versus anything or everything else?

Good point...that is probably going to be explained later...this islands powers are much deeper that we have been led to believe I think.

So err... now I'm just really, massively confused.
Just think about it this way: Whenever something crosses to or from the island, it jumps into the future.

They've really gone out of their way to show us that time moves at the same speed on and off the island. They told us in the enhanced episode of Eggtown that it was Dec 23rd on the island, and then in the Constant they showed us the calendar on the ship to confirm that it was likewise Dec 24th the next day off the island. So the time irregularities necessarily have to do only with travel to and from the island.

As for the x-ray, I don't think that had anything to do with time effects. I think it simply had to do with the effect of the island on the female reproductive system.

This is a tough one. I'm inclined to believe that the idea of the universe course correction may fall into play here. Consider this:

If some people have mastered the ability for their consciosness to jump back in time, then a 75-year-old woman (or any age for that matter) could theoretically jump back to her 25 year old body, and decide to have a child that she never had. This would create a paradox, and as we know, nature abhors a paradox. Therefore, nature (the universe) would prevent this woman from being able to change the future in such a profound way (by her bearing a child that should never have existed). The easiest way to do this, would be for that woman's womb to be infertile. They never actually said that her womb was 75 years old, only that it appeared that way.

Make sense?

As for the x-ray, I don't think that had anything to do with time effects. I think it simply had to do with the effect of the island on the female reproductive system.

I agree with you there. The only thing that i see that shut down any proof slowing time on the island is Alex. She was born sixteen years ago and Ben would've known what date it is because of the communication system he had. The only thing that contradicts this is the experiment Daniel conducted on the island, where the times were different.

LOL Laura, maybe you and I should start a "all this time nonsense is confusing me!" ship? I'm right there with ya.

hahaha :biggrin: i just bought a ticket for it.:confused:

I have so much trouble understanding the time stuff. Is there slow time on this show or not? There's another thread saying there ISN'T. Please heeeeelp my confusion.

I'm with you, here. It's the reason I haven't rewatched the ep-- too confusing...

Okay, but wouldn't a body need nutrients / water to age 50 years?

I think the key is that in Daniel's notes he calls it "imaginary" time.

When Daniel was talking about their "percieved theory of time," yeah?

Just think about it this way: Whenever something crosses to or from the island, it jumps into the future.

It jumps into the future on the island, or off the island? If a person jumped into the future arriving on the island, they'd undergo a crazy amount of change on the way there...

I don't think the x-rays have anything to do with the time delay. Why would they bring a fertility doctor to the island to deal with time travel (or whatever you want to call it)? I think it's more related to the fact that women on the island die when they get pregnant.

(first post)

If a person jumped into the future arriving on the island, they'd undergo a crazy amount of change on the way there...

What do you mean by this?

I don't think the x-rays have anything to do with the time delay. Why would they bring a fertility doctor to the island to deal with time travel (or whatever you want to call it)? I think it's more related to the fact that women on the island die when they get pregnant.

(first post)

Well, all women on the island needed to have gotten there somehow since they obviously can't be born there very easily. They wouldn't have brought her there to deal with time travel, they would have brought her there to figure out how to deal with the resulting changes that occur to those who go through the wormhole (or whatever it happens to be).

I have so much trouble understanding the time stuff. Is there slow time on this show or not? There's another thread saying there ISN'T. Please heeeeelp my confusion.


lol laura im totally right with you. i get all the paradox mumbo, but "time shifting" just seems out of my comfort zone.

p.s. if you get any help, run it by me, lol :)

Joining the massively confused 'ship here, too. I love this show, but I just don't get it. This episode made my head hurt.