Pushing the button

CounterZeroHieroglyphic — Bunker Hieroglyphics

During the second season of LOST, it was revealed that the numbers must be entered into the computer located inside The Swan. A 108-minute countdown timer is attached to an alarm that is triggered by the timer reaching the 4 minute mark. When the alarm sounds, the person manning the computer has until the timer reaches 0 to enter the numbers and push the execute button. Pushing the button resets the timer to 108 minutes.

The first two Flight 815 survivors to learn about the button were Jack and Locke. Desmond, who was left to man the station alone after accidently killing Kelvin, disclosed the bare facts and pointed them to the Orientation film. He then fled the hatch, leaving Jack and Locke to decide what to do with the console and the button pushing.

In "Man of Science, Man of Faith", Walt spoke backwards "... push the button ... don’t push the button ... bad". The meaning of his message is not clear at this time. However, while the consequences of failing to push the button have not been explained to viewers, both Desmond and the Orientation film implied the results would be catastrophic.

In "One of Them", Locke witnessed the timer reach 0, at which time a loud hydro-mechanical sound was heard (perhaps some form of machinery preparing to activate) and the timer flipped to a series of glyphs. Locke discovered that it was still possible to finish typing in the numbers and press execute during the flipping into these glyphs, at which time the counter returned to 108 minutes. Presumably once all the glyphs are aligned, time is up. It is conceivable that this event happened again (off-camera) during "Lockdown" while the blast door Locke was trapped in the other room. "Henry Gale" alleged that he did not press the button, and describing the resulting events accurately, he professed that nothing else happened except that the timer reset on its own.

The Survivors make an effort to take shifts so that there are always two people in the Swan to operate the computer; however, Locke seemed to spend more time in the hatch than any of the others. By the end of the second season, though, Locke begins to lose faith in the process, seemingly considering it all a meaningless experiment. Mr. Eko takes over the duty of pushing the button after he and Locke visit The Pearl.

According to The Swan orientation film, the computer must not be used for anything other than entering the code and pressing of the button. A piece of film that Eko found, and Locke spliced into the orienation movie, further warned that the computer must never be used to contact the outside world. Nonetheless, communication via the computer is possible, as Walt (supposedly) communicated with with his father when Michael was on shift in the Hatch ("What Kate Did").

Spoiler alert!

Answers

The button serves as a venting mechanism for an electro-magnetic generator located within the Swan. After 108 minutes, the energy buildup is large enough that failure to vent the energy has catastrophic results. Desmond failed to push the button on-time on September 22, 2004, triggering a system failure. Although the sequence was entered shortly after the time expired, the resulting magnetic burst was strong enough to cause Flight 815 to crash. After Locke destroyed the computer monitor in Live Together, Die Alone, the timer once again expired without the button being pressed. Although the actual magnetic overflow was prevented by Desmond's use of the fail-safe key, the resulting "event" from the use of the key was felt by the entire island, and potentially resulted in the destruction of the Swan station.

Other Observations

108 corresponds to the sum of the numbers. 4+8+15+16+23+42=108

There is a short story by Richard Matheson (later turned into a 1980's Twilight Zone episode) called "Button, Button." It deals with a couple that is given the option of pushing a button or not - with a surprising ending.

Pushing the button

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Other Observations

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