LA X or XI or XII?

Preface: I'm pretty sure my explanation of string theory is wrong - I ought to take my own advice and (re)watch The Elegant Universe - because I remember string is applied on the atomic level. Just note that while the labels I use may be wrong the explanations are right for something. Shitty work, I know...

The beginning of the end has come. The premier to the final season of LOST aired earlier this evening. I'm sure one of the main questions on all of our heads is "What's going on?" I'm referring to the dual realities of Oceanic survivors. One moment we see everyone on the island. The next they're either in L.A. or en route because the plane didn't crash. So to repeat, "What's going on?" I think the explanation lies in physics.

In season 5 the producers embarked on a journey through time. Instead of taking a purely science fictional approach, they applied some scientific theory to make the adventure conceptually plausible. In an interview shortly after season 5 the producers stated they were done with time travel and a new device lay in wait. While we may have seen the last bit of time travel, we're still immersed in space-time. Is this final season of LOST an application of string theory?

If you haven't already done so I recommend you go read or watch The Elegant Universe, a book/documentary that may shed some light on what happened when Juliet detonated the bomb. In a quick and dirty explanation, string theory posits that along the spacetime continuum there are multiple realities occurring simultaneously, each along its own alternate universe. Without limiting this discussion to string theory, there are various philosophical and physical theories that support the notion of multiple, parallel universes. The least restricted theories purport that in a world where every event, even on the atomic level, is defined by randomness, there is a universe for EVERY possible chain of events. That may seem a little far-fetched but the notion of randomness leading to multiple outcomes holds water in many theoretical camps. In order to spare you any (more) scientific inaccuracies, I recommend you look up quantum theory and Schrodiner's cat for good explanations random events with two outcomes, something that pertains to LOST.

For now let's disregard my deficient knowledge of physics and simply recognize there are theories that posit the existence of multiple universes/realities. I think the most compelling evidence for this in LOST lies in the premier episode's title and Juliet's final words. The episode is titled "LA X." Yes, the space is supposed to be there. We immediately recognize the reference to LAX, the code for the airport Oceanic 815 is headed for. When detached from the rest of the code I get the impression X could stand for the roman number 10. This isn't meant to be taken literally since we only see two outcomes. I think the idea is simply to suggest there are multiple realities and this world in which the plane never crashed, the numbers aren't cursed, etc. is one possibility.

Another possibility is that in which the detonation of the bomb does nothing. Despite this observed failure, Miles says that Juliet's message to Sawyer was "It worked." Let's assume that Miles wasn't just trying to pacify Sawyer and that is in fact what Juliet intended to say. Let's also assume that Juliet wasn't trying to pacify Sawyer either and detonating the bomb actually did work. If that's the case maybe this alternate reality will converge with the other. Why show us both outcomes unless there's greater meaning to this approach? Maybe both realities need to play out in tandem in order to produce some singular outcome that neither world could achieve on its own. We'll just have to wait and see.

The next episode is titled "What Kate Does." In the meantime share your thoughts on LA X.