Predestination and The Numbers

Once again, Lost is proving to be one huge Predestination Paradox - a virtual Ouroboros devouring its own tail. The classic predestination paradox from the Twilight Zone:

A man travels back in time to discover the cause of a famous fire. While in the building where the fire started, he accidentally knocks over a kerosene lantern and causes a fire, the same fire that would inspire him, years later, to travel back in time.

The events are both cause and effect at the same time, thus a paradox.

On Lost, thanks to the "whatever happened, happened" theory of time travel plus a bunch of writer tricks, just about everything is being revealed as predestination. John Locke is scouted to be the leader of the Others because he tells the Others to scout him. Recently, in a brilliant twist of irony, Jack refuses to save a dying Young Ben because he hates who Young Ben will become. Then, because Jack would not perform the surgery, Kate takes Ben to the Others and Jack has actually caused Evil Villain Ben.

Now, sharp Lost fans have caught a crazy predestination detail in episode 505 "This Place Is Death". Montand, a member of Rousseau's expedition has tuned in the radio transmission of The Numbers. This is the signal that brought the science team to the island. It's also the same signal heard by Sam Toomey and Leonard Simms, repeated by Leonard and responsible for Hurley's lottery win. I put a couple filters on, to clarify the sound a bit:




It's Hurley! The Numbers continue to taunt him - from the lottery, to the Swan Hatch, to the odometer on his restored Camero. Now, I expect it will soon be revealed that Hurley is forced to actually record that transmission of The Numbers. DHARMA transmits the core numerical values of the Valenzetti Equation, and any change in one of these numbers will mean DHARMA has succeeded in its mission. So, Hurley is responsible for passing those Numbers along to himself, and that's the reason he ends up on this crazy Island in the first place.