Desmond David Hume

So, did you see last Wednesday's episode of Lost?

OK, allow me to travel back in time a little and give you a hint of a post I should have written earlier.

Lost is my favorite TV show, probably ever. Friends who know of my 20 year (and counting) obsession with Star Trek might find that hard to believe. I sort of missed the first season but kept up with it just enough to know that I had to start watching. After I got my sister Maggie into it, she bought the first season on DVD and we caught up and have been hooked ever since. If you don't watch, but the show intrigues you, I say rent the first season DVD and fire it up. You'll know pretty quickly whether the show is for you or not. If it is your thing, then trust me, you are in for a real treat.

But, back to the present. Wednesday's episode of Lost was damn good. And it was quite different than most of the episodes. Instead of having a "back story" about one of the characters' life before their arrival on the Island, Desmond seemed to actually travel back in time to a point before his arrival. The show was entertaining, heartbreaking, and intellectually stimulating. It reminded me of Star Trek episodes that dealt with time travel but became a great Lost episode by staying true to the principals that make Lost unique.

Desomnd was referred to in the episode by his full name Desmond David Hume. Desmond is Scottish, as is one of David Hume, one of Scotland's most revered philospophers. This is surely not a coincidence. In the episode Desmond tries to find out whether he really IS travelling through time and asks his scientifically inclined friend whether time travel is really possible. Not that I am a David Hume expert by any stretch of the imagination, but my limited understanding of his philosophy leads me to believe that if Desmond David Hume were to ask David Hume those very questions, David Hume would certainly think that time travel was possible. Just because time generally travels forward does not mean it cannot travel backward. Anyone with knowledge of Hume who would be interested in giving a more detailed analysis of this is welcomed and encouraged to. (Rob?) And if you are inclined to doubt the connection connection between the fictional Hume and the real one, perhaps you should ask John Locke or John Locke whether they think the writers of Lost are well versed in western philosophy.

That's all for now.