Whether or not the various connections between characters are genuine coincidences makes a huge difference to the type of answers viewers of Lost give to the question “What the hell is going on?” Of course the viewers are not the only ones trying to figure this out. The Losties themselves have been literally crashed into a situation that becomes more puzzling with each passing day.

I’m not trying to be strategic. I’m not a politician. I’m a physicist, an academic, and, if you want, an amateur philosopher. I’m trying to say what I think is true as clearly and unemotionally as I can, and leave it to people to judge if my arguments are right or wrong.